Fuzz
by SkulShurtugalTCG
Summary: Real life is messy. We all have limitations. We all make mistakes. Judy and Nick are two of Zootopia's best police officers. They've been through a lot together. But nothing can prepare them for this. A new threat in Zootopia forces them to choose between standing up for their beliefs, or doing their jobs...all while figuring out how their relationship will proceed going forward.
1. Chapter 1

Judy Hopps stared up above her, clutching her injured leg with one paw and leaning on her other one for support. Nick Wilde sat beside her, also looking up at Mayor Bellwether, who stood above the two of them on the circular opening of the museum's exhibit on prehistoric, primitive mammals.

The mayor was exactly where they wanted her. She didn't know it, but they had switched the Night Howler toxins inside the gun with harmless blueberries. All Judy and Nick needed to do now was stall long enough for the Zootopia Police Department officers to show up and hear her confess to everything.

The Night Howlers, the missing mammals, the prejudice against Zootopia's predator population… It had been Bellwether all along, and now they needed for her to frame herself.

Bellwether was clutching the briefcase that held the gun. To her side stood several sheep, each of them ready to help her out in any way they could. But it seemed Bellwether had everything under control on her own. "Well, you should have just stayed on the carrot farm, huh?" she called down to Judy, after a quick chuckle. She shook her head, as if she genuinely felt sorry for the bunny. "It really is too bad. I did like you."

Judy narrowed her eyes. She felt her emotions swell up inside her chest. Bellwether had done so much to hurt Zootopia, and now she had the nerve to sweet-talk her as well? It was all Judy could do to contain herself, and not blab right then and there that Bellwether was falling right into their trap.

Instead, she jeered, "What are you going to do? Kill me?"

Bellwether wouldn't, of course. She was as sheep. She had done _many_ things, but all the dirty work had been done by her henchmen. But Judy had to lead her on, and her next action was exactly what she hoped for.

"Oh, no, of course not." Bellwether's chuckle cased when she retrieved the gun and aimed it into the enclosure. "He is."

The gun fired, and a second later, Nick recoiled, clawing desperately at his neck. Judy knew it was just blueberries, but even so, she felt bad for the poor fox.

To the illusion, Judy jumped over to Nick as quickly as she could with her injured leg and shook his shoulder. "No! Nick!" she screamed. It was all fine, though. Nick was just pretending. His growls were forced, and his dilating pupils were just the result of his blood pressure rising.

Bellwether was on the phone. "Yes, police! There's a savage fox in the Natural History Museum. Officer Hopps is down! Please, hurry."

 _This is going almost too easily. She doesn't suspect a thing._ But Judy had to keep it up. If Bellwether caught on too quickly, the she would escape before the ZPD would arrive. Now it was time for her to blab.

Judy turned back to Nick. "No, Nick. Don't do this. Fight it." She could almost see him wink at her beneath the growls, as if to reassure her he was okay.

Bellwether handed the phone to one of her cronies. "But he can't help it, can he?" The smile returned to her face. "Since preds are just biologically predisposed to be savages."

Nick's growls disappeared, replaced by a full-fledged _snarl_. It was so loud, and sounded so real, that Judy reflexively jumped back. If she didn't know any better, she could have sworn Nick really _was_ going savage.

 _I guess he's just that good of an actor. It probably came from all those years of being a con artist._ Judy ran away from Nick as fast as she could, and could feel his breath on her tail with every step. She knew she was perfectly safe, but she couldn't allow Bellwether to see even a hint of calm in her. She grabbed a nearby deer figurine and threw it behind her. Nick, closer behind than she would have liked, took it to the face, and proceeded to rip it apart as she retreated into some faux brush.

"Gosh. Think of the headline!" Bellwether was eating it up, not the least bit suspicious. "'Hero cop killed by savage fox'."

Nick tore the deer in several pieces with ease, his predator teeth and claws making quick work of the poor thing. His attention turned back to Judy and he slowly approached her, walking on all fours, saliva dripping from his mouth, ungodly sounds emerging from his throat.

Judy had to keep Bellwether busy. "So that's it?" she called up. "Prey fears predator, and you stay in power?"

Bellwether twirled the gun in her hand, seemingly proud of hearing the statement out loud. "Yeah, pretty much."

"It won't work!"

"Fear _always_ works," Bellwether shot back. She motioned to Nick. "And I'll dart every predator in Zootopia to keep it that way."

Nick's growls caught Judy's attention again as his orange head emerged from behind the brush. He was loud, and it was all she could do to stay put. The ZPD would be here any second, and once they arrived, Nick would go back to his normal self, Bellwether would be put behind bars, and things would go back to normal.

"I trust you, Nick," she whispered, in such a low voice she could hardly even hear herself over Nick's snarls.

Somehow, though, even Bellwether herself heard her. "Don't take me for a fool, Judy!" she yelled. She opened the briefcase again, retrieved a small object, and tossed it carelessly into the enclosure.

Judy's breath caught. It was one of the blueberries they had put into the gun.

Bellwether knew. She knew all along.

Suddenly, Nick's growls no longer sounded forced. His eyes no longer looked trusting. He no longer looked like he was just pretending.

Nick was affected by the Night Howlers. He was going to kill her.

Judy instinctively backed up, but she was up against the wall of the enclosure. She was stuck here, with the one mammal in all of Zootopia who she had been able to trust—and now that trust was gone.

Nick was inches away from her now. There was nothing she could do. Her injured leg prevented her from running, and the Night Howlers prevented Nick from hearing her words.

She could just scream, desperate that someone could hear her—that the ZPD could stop Nick in time—that this was all just a bad dream—that _anything_ could stop Nick from killing her.

The last thing she felt was Nick sink his teeth into her neck, before darkness closed in around her. She could only hear her screaming, and soon enough, even that was replaced by a loud ringing in her ears.

The ringing stopped.

And then started again.

Judy's vision returned to her, but only a small part of it—the small part that told her that it was now five o'clock. The ringing kept coming and going, coming and going, coming and going…

Judy had to force her screaming to stop, and managed to find enough control over her paws to turn off her alarm clock. She took a moment to analyze her situation. She was sitting up in her bed, caked in sweat, throat dry from yelling so loudly, heart beating much faster than she was used to.

One of her wishes had come true, in her final moments: It had all been just a bad dream.

It was so real, so vivid, so terrifying… She had a hard time calming down, even now that she knew it was all over. Bellwether had been locked up a long time ago. Their plan had worked. Nick was never under the effect of the Night Howlers, and he was even her partner on the police force now.

The only mark she had from it all was the scar on her leg. And that wasn't even Nick's fault; she had sliced it open on the sharp tusk of a skeleton while they were running from Bellwether.

And yet she still sat up in her bed for a long time, trying to make sense of the dream. All her life, Judy had tried to keep herself from discriminating against predators—particularly foxes—but it wasn't until she met Nick that she realized just how bad she had it against them. She had been wary of Nick since the day she met him, and it had taken that moment of vulnerability for her to fully trust him.

But with this dream, she suddenly wondered if she _did_ trust him fully. What was her brain trying to tell her? That Nick _could_ turn on her at any time? That she still had reservation about him, or foxes in general, or even _predators_ in general?

She shook her head, forcing the thoughts out of her mind. She closed her eyes tight, gripped her paws into fists, and took a deep breath. "Get a hold of yourself, Judy," she whispered out loud. "You're better than this. It was just a dream. It was just a bad dream."

Her mind was made up. Judy _did_ trust Nick, with her life. It had paid off against Bellwether—and several times since then—and she wasn't about to lose that over a dumb dream. Nick was now a police officer with the Zootopia Police Department, just like she was—the first fox, her partner, and one of the best mammals she knew. He might still be shrewd and sly when he needed to be, but to her, he was the best friend she could ask for.

Any prejudices she held against him, or any other predators, were long gone. And she intended to keep it that way.

The clock read 5:20 by the time she finally got out of bed, though by then at least her heart was beating at a normal rate again. She laid out her police clothes on her bed and turned on the shower. While she waited for the water to warm up, she turned on her phone and opened the ZNN app, ready to hear whatever news came up for the day.

A wolf was outside of City Hall, the sky barely beginning to brighten for the day. "The mayor's office today informed us that Mayor Lionheart will announce his new assistant mayor later today. As you all remember, his previous assistant was Dawn Bellwether, who framed Lionheart last year in the Night Howler case. Lionheart was given his position back by popular public demand, and he has assured us that his new assistant mayor, and I quote, 'will have the best intentions for both Zootopia and its mammals'. Kodi London, ZNN."

The camera went back to the two anchors in the studio, a snow leopard and a bison. "Thank you, Kodi," the snow leopard acknowledged, before turning to her co-anchor. "We'll have to see who Mayor Lionheart chooses."

"Yes, indeed," the bison responded. "I imagine another member of the prey family would be a smart choice, and so far all our sources say that the Mayor is going to choose between three of those."

"Yes, indeed," the snow leopard responded, and several pictures flashed on screen of the three choices. "Including one of our former ZNN news anchors, Peter Moosenbridge, but also up for consideration are real estate mongrel Ollie Font, and what is considered the frontrunner, Sheldon 'Nuts' Cheeks." She stared at the screen for a minute, before turning aside and whispering off-screen, "Is that really his name, or are you…" She blinked. "That's really his name?"

The camera switched over to the bison, who seemed to be put on the spot. He hesitated for a moment, thinking of something to say, before talking. "Reports say that Mayor Lionheart has already chosen his assistant mayor, as early as yesterday, and is simply waiting until this afternoon's press conference to officially announce who it is. Prior to that, he is expected to tell Chief Bogo of the Zootopia Police Department, which is expected to provide security for the event. Whoever the new assistant mayor is, they will be sworn in next Thursday at a public event outside City Hall."

It seemed the leopard was ready to speak again. "Looking at the weather for today, it appears that we will not be having anything unexpected. The weather generators in each of the districts are currently working as expected, with the exception of The Marshlands, which is having some difficulties that are expected to be resolved sometime later this morning. Elsewhere, expect some natural rain to enter The Outback tomorrow afternoon, so all you kangaroos and koalas should prepare accordingly."

The camera cut back to the bison. "This just in, we have some breaking news here. We have reports that a polar bear is wrecking havoc in Savannah Central, close to the Grand Pangolin apartment complex. Police officers are in hot pursuit, but they are maintaining their distance, as it appears the polar b—"

By now, Judy had barely gotten out of the shower, but she had heard everything she needed to. The polar bear was _right_ outside her apartment complex, and she, as a ZPD officer, was ready to intercept and help out any way she could.

She didn't even bother putting on all her clothes. She settled with just her blue shirt and dark blue pants, and grabbed her utility belt as she ran out the door. Already, she could hear the loud voices of her police officer friends outside as they yelled for the polar bear to stop, only to then hear the loud noises of miniature earthquakes as the polar bear continued to run.

Judy's body felt sore as she ran; her dream the night before had drained much of her energy. But she had spent her whole life training to be a cop, and a little bit of soreness wasn't about to slow her down. In fact, as one of the fastest mammals on the force, she almost felt like she needed to move her legs even quicker to catch up to the polar bear.

As she made her way to the street, she realized she didn't need to catch up, because the polar bear was already there. In fact, it was mere feet away from her, waving its arms around wildly and yelling at the top of its lungs. It almost reminded Judy of when she had seen other mammals go savage the previous year, except here, the polar bear was very much aware of what it was doing.

How could she tell? Because she could hear him say, "Catch me if you can!"

Lucky for her, he was yelling at the other cops, all of whom were in the opposite direction. The polar bear turned back around to continue its escape, only to find Judy standing in the middle of the street, tapping her foot patiently, arms crossed in front of her chest, sly smile on her face.

"I just did," she smirked. "And it wasn't even that hard."

The polar bear blinked in surprise, probably wondering how Judy got there in the first place. For a moment, he seemed to even consider surrendering right then and there. However, that moment passed, and he narrowed his eyes, turned to the side, and began running down the alley between the apartment buildings. Judy was hot on his tail before the other cops had a chance of catching up.

The polar bear was surprisingly agile for its size, and within seconds it was weaving between the various alleyways of the apartment complex. The Grand Pangolin was one of several in this area of Savannah Central, which was almost entirely a housing district anyway. The polar bear had no trouble losing the other officers in the sea of alleys surrounding them.

But not Judy Hopps. The bunny was fast and agile, and despite the polar bear's best efforts, she was able to keep up with relative ease, even with the soreness in her legs. And on top of that, she was used to these back alleys; after all, she lived here, whereas the polar bear almost certainly lived in Tundra Town.

That didn't stop the polar bear from improvising. Dumpsters appeared every once in a while, which he easily shoved behind him in an attempt to slow down Judy. Every time, Judy would simply spring over them, barely losing more than a step at a time.

But those steps added up, and soon Judy found herself falling behind the polar bear. She had to find a way of catching up, otherwise she ran of the risk of losing him. She thought quickly about the various passages that the alleys led, and an idea came to her mind.

"Hey, I wouldn't turn right if I were you!" she yelled. "It's a dead end!"

The polar bear took the bait, and at the next fork, ran to the right. Judy slowed down just long enough to pull out her tranquilizer gun, and followed the polar bear into the alleyway.

The polar bear was at the end of it, at a dead end, just as Judy had told him. "Told you," she said with a smile. She pointed her gun at the bear's chest. "Now, we can do this the easy way—"

The bear jumped in her direction, all teeth and claws. It was obvious he was desperate enough to get away that he was even willing to resort to violence now.

Left with no choice, Judy pulled the trigger, barely having enough time to jump out of the way before she could even see if she hit.

The bear landed hard on the ground, and did not move any more.

Judy sighed in relief, glad that her aim was not off. She slid her tranquilizer gun back into her belt and retrieved her handcuffs, approaching the polar bear in preparation to arrest him.

The bear's eyes jerked open and he exposed his teeth. It was such a sudden act, Judy froze in her tracks, letting out an involuntary yelp of shock. She and the bear locked eyes for several long, tense seconds, before Judy finally realized that the bear was unconscious.

It was still not as big a relief as she hoped. She couldn't help but stare at the bear's wide, dead eyes, and his sharp carnivorous teeth. It reminded her a bit too much of the dream she had just woken up from not an hour before.

Finally, she was able to tear her gaze away from the bear's face long enough to put the handcuffs on, before backing away as quickly as she could. She could already hear the other officers searching the alleys nearby with their flashlights, trying to find the two of them. She didn't have the voice to lead them in her direction; she just sat in the fork separating the dead end from the rest of the alleys, waiting for the other ZPD officers to find her.

The whole time, she couldn't stop looking at the bear's face. The face that she had seen so many times before—but a face that she now looked upon so differently.

Maybe the dream had had more of an effect on her than she thought.


	2. Chapter 2

Nicholas Wilde took a long, drawn-out sip from his Snarlbucks coffee, hoping to drown out the sound of the other mammals in the room. He had to stand on the oversized chair he was assigned in order to see over the desk and to the front of the room, where Chief Bogo would appear any minute to give the morning's briefings. His aviator shades covered his eyes needlessly—he was indoors, after all—and even if the other mammals could see his eyes, they would see the most well-rested fox in Zootopia.

Nick had slept _very_ well the night before. Better than almost any other night that he could remember. His dreams had consisted of a combination of blueberries and salmon, and him swimming in a sea of both. It forced him to wake up in the middle of the night, grab a midnight snack, and then go back to sleep to enjoy even more pleasant dreams. These, though, didn't involve food, but a particular bunny in his life.

The thought of Judy caused Nick to smile, ever so slightly. Judy Hopps, the rabbit who was responsible for him being in this very room right now. Judy Hopps, the bunny who had seen more in him than anyone ever had before. Judy Hopps, the—

The room erupted into cheers, causing Nick to take off his sunglasses and turn around to see who was coming in the door.

Judy Hopps. The small mammal who had just taken down a polar bear an hour ago in front of her own apartment building.

Word had spread quickly among the ZPD officers. Judy had taken down large mammals before, of course, but never single-handedly. Never a polar bear. Never so early in the morning, at a time when most mammals thought alarm clocks should be illegal.

Judy nervously walked down the aisle, forced a smile, waved a paw, murmured "Thanks, thank you, thanks everyone," and jumped onto Nick's chair to join him. She sat down, almost completely disappearing behind the oversized desk.

Nick slid his aviators into a pocket and chuckled. "I hear you had a rather fun morning, Carrots," he whispered in her ear—one of the only parts of her body that was above the desk. "And you didn't think to invite me along?" Judy's elbow in his side a second later caused him to yelp in pain. "Was that really necessary?" He looked at her with his trademarked half-lidded sly smile. "I don't want to be the next mammal you take out today."

Judy glared at him with an expression that told him he had taken it one step too far—which, amazingly, was a rare occurrence. Usually, Judy appreciated Nick's wit and sarcasm. In fact, in the several months since they had become partners on the police force, he could count the number of days she had _really_ been annoyed at him on one paw.

Now, suddenly, he needed two.

Nick dropped the smile. "Oh, come on, Carrots. I didn't mean it."

With that, Judy reached over, grabbed Nick by his navy blue tie, and pulled him down to her level. After a second of discomfort, he sighed and sat down in the chair. "Why are we down here?" he asked.

"So the others can't hear us," Judy responded.

Nick blinked, not quite sure if Judy was joking or not. The other officers in the room were all talking to themselves—quite loudly, in fact. And it wasn't as if the two of them talking underneath this desk would keep them from hearing their conversation anyway.

But the look on Judy's face told him she was serious.

"Okay, right," Nick slowly replied. He reached out his Snarlbucks cup in offering. "Coffee?" he asked, only to realize mid-word that the cup was empty anyway. He sheepishly withdrew the cup and set it on the desk above them. "So, why so furtive?"

It was only then that Nick noticed the expression on Judy's face. It was even whiter now than it normally was. The nervousness she showed to all the other officers was replaced now by one of sheer terror. She had seen something that had left her horrified.

"What is it?" he asked again, this time with worry. "Are you hurt? Did the polar bear hurt you?" He began looking over her body for any sign of tears in her suit, or blood on her fur. "Are you all right?"

Judy took a moment to answer. "Physically, yes, I'm fine. Not so much as a scratch."

Her pause after that did little to help Nick's worrying. "Well, you dragged me down here to talk about it." He smiled, this time warmly and genuinely. "Come on, Carrots. You can trust me."

Before Judy could say anything else, the side door opened and Chief Bogo walked into the room. The two of them had to stand in order to see him properly—and just as they did, he laid eyes on them. The rest of the room quieted down quickly, and as Bogo walked over to the podium, he stared at them. "Exactly what were the two of you doing under the desk?"

Judy, embarrassed, sunk down a little bit to hide her flustered cheeks. Nick, however, had a comeback planned for just such an occasion. "Officer Hopps and I were just counting the number of ways we like you, sir."

Bogo stared at him, not believing it for a moment. "And how long were you down there, Wilde?" he asked in the same tone of voice as the first question.

"Quite a while, sir. We were unable to come up with a single thing."

The giggles from the other officers in the room drowned out the snort Bogo exerted. "One of these days, Wilde, you will go too far," he mumbled as the chuckles died down. He picked up the pamphlet and added, almost as an afterthought, "Luckily, it wasn't today," before raising his voice for the whole room to hear him. "Good morning, Zootopia Police Department officers. We only have one thing to get out of the way before you are assigned to your duties." He motioned to Judy. "Officer Judy Hopps this morning single-handedly took down a dangerous polar bear, who was terrorizing Savannah Central. Thanks to her heroic work, there were no casualties, and the polar bear is currently in custody."

The other mammals gave her a vigorous round of applause. Beside her, Nick settled for just patting her twice on the back. Judy once again forced a smile, no doubt more embarrassed by the whole ordeal more than anything; she hated being in the spotlight.

It was something Nick admired about her—something he had admired about her even when he had wanted to ditch her in any way he could, back when they were on the Night Howlers case. Judy had not joined the police force for the power or the glory. She had joined because, as she had told him so many times, she just wanted to make the world a better place. Sure, sometimes the limelight would fall on her, and when it did she didn't seem to mind it too much. But she never pursued it. She just wanted to help Zootopia in any way she could.

And that was what had drawn him to her to begin with. Her selflessness. The little bunny, whether she realized it or not, had made a bigger impression on him than anyone else in the world. She contrasted to his selfish, sad, miserable life, and made him realize that he wanted that for himself. He _wanted_ to be selfless, happy, and helpful. It had taken this rabbit to make him realize that.

His rabbit…

Bogo's booming voice jerked his mind back to reality. "Now, as fascinating as Officer Hopps's adventure was, we have many unanswered questions—namely, why the polar bear went on a rampage in the first place. It did _not_ go savage, as some particular news stations have implied. According to Officer Hopps, it was fully conscious and in control of its actions throughout. Right now it is in Zootopia General Hospital, and when it is conscious again, it will need to be questioned." He stood up straight. "So, do I have any volunteers?"

Unsurprisingly, nobody raised their paw. If there was one common enemy to the ZPD, it was paperwork—and anyone who questioned a suspect knew that there would be a great deal amount of paperwork involved.

Bogo sighed. "Well, seeing as everyone has assignments for today anyway, I suppose I'll go and do it."

Nick was about to give a witty comment in response, but thought better of it. In fact, after a second thought, Nick realized that Bogo was probably the best mammal in the ZPD for the job; after all, the buffalo was intimidating and could be _very_ persuasive when it came to interrogation.

Not that Nick new that from experience or anything.

"That's it for now. Assignments!" Bogo looked at his notes. "As you all have heard by now, Mayor Lionheart will be announcing his new assistant mayor at City Hall. Officers Grizzoli, Fangmeyer, Trumpet, Jackson, Wolford and McHorn." The officers rose from their chairs and stood at attention. "You will be acting as security at the event. You know the drill." As the group left, Bogo's eyes landed on Nick and Judy. "Officers Hopps and Wilde…"

Nick smiled in anticipation. What was it going to be today? A murder case to track? Stakeout on a jewelry store? Part of a drug bust?

"Parking duty."

Nick's single laugh echoed throughout the room. He barely noticed Judy beside him forcing a laugh of her own. "You are one funny buffalo, sir," Nick exclaimed. "I thought I just hear you say 'Parking duty'."

The smile disappeared when Bogo's expression remained the same. "I did."

Judy finally spoke up. "Sir, I assure you, my incident from this morning has in no way impeded—"

"I don't have any doubt of your abilities, Hopps," Bogo cut her off, though his voice finally changed tone. Now he almost sounded sympathetic—which was strange, since Nick swore that it was an emotion the chief was unable to feel. "This assignment was made before today. Everyone has to take turns being the meter maid."

"Even me, sir?" Nick quipped, taking offense to being called that particular term.

Bogo glared at him. " _Especially_ you, Wilde." Bogo motioned to the side door. "Just be glad I'm giving you the Horndai today instead of the Jokemobile."

Nick and Judy exchanged a glance. Getting an actual car _was_ an improvement, but it was still the least-desired job on the force. Nick could feel the disappointment filling the pit of his stomach, and instinctively reached for his shades to help cover the disappointment that was sure to fill his eyes.

Judy stopped him with a paw, locked eyes with him, and smiled. "Well, Slick," she perked, "ready to make the world a better place?" She held out her fist in request for a fistbump.

Any disappointment Nick had immediately disappeared at the sight of Judy's eagerness. He knew she was not looking forward to this day any more than he was, but if she could go into it with a positive attitude, he could do.

He connected his fist with hers and hopped off the chair. As he passed by Bogo, he placed his sunglasses over his eyes and suggested, loudly, "One of these days, we'll have to get you a meter maid outfit too, chief." Before Bogo could respond, he was out the door, Judy close behind.

* * *

"So, how many tickets are we up to?"

Judy looked at the counter on her ticket writer. "Seventy-two. Slow day, I guess."

Nick chuckled. "Well, I guess that's a good thing. Everyone decided to be law-abiding citizens today."

The two of them were sitting in their police cruiser, on their lunch break for the day. Nick had picked up a burrito from Chipmunkpotle, and Judy had opted to pack her own lunch, which consisted of a simple garden salad.

Usually, the two would make small talk during their lunch breaks. Nick was surprised by that, actually. The two of them were partners on the force, which meant they were in each other's presence all day almost every day, and since they were great friends on top of that, they often spent time together after work as well. Surely, after such a long time, they would have run out of things to talk about.

Maybe that day was today, because Nick was the one coming up with all the topics, and Judy gave simple answers, sometimes just a single word or two. He asked her what she wanted to do after work, she didn't know. He asked if she had finished the paperwork on a case from the previous week, she had said yes and it was given to Bogo three days ago. He asked if she had any new siblings born recently, she had just shot him a look and taken a bite out of her salad.

In fact, Judy was eating so much more than Nick, she was about to finish eating first—which was a _very_ unusual thing for her. Her whole behavior today was so out-of-character, Nick was wondering if she had been replaced by one of her many twins.

Finally, Nick couldn't take it anymore. "All right, Carrots, out with it." When Judy picked a carrot out of her salad and presented it to him, he clarified, "No, I don't _want_ your carrots. I want you to tell me what's going on."

Judy popped the carrot in her mouth, chewed on it for a few seconds, and swallowed. "What exactly do you mean?"

Nick sighed. Judy knew what he meant, and obviously she didn't want to talk about it. But at the same time, this was bugging him, and he didn't want to spend the rest of their already-long day being left in the dark.

"Well, you _could_ tell me about what you meant earlier today, in the bullpen." When Judy blinked in confusion, he decided to help her. "You said you were fine, but you looked like Bogo was gonna bite your head off or something."

Judy's eyes flickered as she remembered. "Oh, right." She looked down at her salad, only to realize there was nothing left. Nick got the distinct impression she had been eating in order to avoid talking about it. "It was just a dream I had last night, that's all."

"Obviously, that's not _all_ ," Nick insisted. He caught her gaze, and tried to express his genuine concern as much as possible. "I'm your friend. If something is wrong, I want to know, so I can help you."

Judy seemed to ponder on his words for a moment, before she finally nodded. She placed the empty plate in the back of the cruiser, folded her paws, and sunk into her seat. After taking a deep breath, she told him. As she talked, her voice began quivering, as if the dream replaying itself in her mind was making her scared all over again.

When she finished, she was visibly fighting to hold back tears. "It was all so real. I was never more frightened in my life."

Nick lowered what was left of his burrito, his appetite gone. "You were frightened of me," he stated. He was not at all surprised, if he was honest with himself. After all, bunnies and foxes were natural enemies, and had been for thousands of years. No matter what they went through, Nick knew that would never change. Deep down, Judy would always be at least a _little_ afraid of him.

She, of course, denied it. "I wasn't afraid of you," she insisted, her amethyst eyes trying their best to persuade him of it. She reached over and placed a paw on his arm. "All those animals that went savage, they didn't know what they were doing. They were not themselves. Mrs. Otterton even told me so when she saw her husband."

"So what _were_ you frightened by?" Nick asked. He wasn't trying to redirect Judy to place it back on him; he was genuinely curious. He even moved his arm away from Judy, only to place his paw on hers.

Judy paused for a minute, either to think of the right words or to keep from losing to her swelling emotions. "I was frightened," she said slowly, "that I had lost my friend, and that I would die without ever seeing him again." She squeezed his paw tight. "And that is why I wanted to talk to you about this. Even after I've woken up, that fear is still with me."

Nick was very unused to these kinds of situations. He may have had twenty years of experience as a hustler, but that didn't mean he was good at words—especially when those words were needed right now for reassurance. He thought up something, hoped they were the right words, and said, "Carrots, I promise, I'm not ever going to go savage. Aside from the Night Howlers, animals haven't even gone savage in thousands of years, so I'm—"

"It's not that," Judy replied, her eyes glistening as tears began to form. "I was completely over the dream until I took down the polar bear. When I did, it was one of the hardest things I've had to do since joining the ZPD. It made me realize…" She took a deep breath before continuing. "You know how dangerous our job is. What if something happens to you? What if something happens to _me_? What if…" The tears came and drowned out whatever else she might have been about to say. Not caring anymore, Judy buried her face in Nick's chest, sobbing weakly.

Nick did not hesitate in wrapping his arms around her, enveloping her in a big hug. She had only ever cried in front of him once, and that time, he had known exactly how to cheer her up. This time, he didn't have a clue. He wanted to dismiss her worries as being unfounded, but he knew, all too well, how common it was for police officers to be injured, or even killed, in the line of duty. He knew that any day, it was completely possible that one or both of them would meet a very sudden end.

He had thought about it himself, from time to time, though he dared not dwell on it. Judy was his closest friend in the world, and the thought of losing her someday was almost unbearable. He could already imagine a future without her—a dull, miserable future, which he did not want to experience.

 _Any day, at any time, though, it could happen._

Nick shook the thought out of his head. He focused his attention back on the rabbit curled up in his arms, soaking his uniform in tears. He pulled her in even tighter, holding her firmly against his chest.

He still didn't know what to say. If he shared his own fears, it would just make things worse. To do anything less would be a lie, and he was not about to do that either. All he could do was keep her close, occasionally rubbing the back of her head.

"I'm here," he finally said. "I'm here," he repeated.

That seemed to help Judy, who nodded in the midst of her sobs. "You're here," she repeated.

"That's right," Nick replied, a smirk appearing on his face. "Good. We've established that I am, in fact, here."

Judy snorted and punched his shoulder softly. "You stupid fox," she murmured.

"Aw, you bunnies. Always so emotional." Nick patted Judy's shoulder and glanced at the car's clock. He groaned in protest when he saw they were already three minutes over their lunch break, but helped Judy sit back up nonetheless. "Come on, Carrots. We've got a town to save."

"Again," Judy added, wiping the rest of her tears off with Nick's Chipmunkpotle napkin. With her vision back, she noticed his shirt, now completely soaked in her tears. A look of regret crossed her face. "Oh, Nick, I'm sorry. Your shirt—"

Nick held up a paw to stop her from going any further. "You needed to talk about this. I'm here to listen. That's what friends are for." When Judy opened her mouth to continue, he held up his paw again. "I don't want to hear another word about how sorry you are, Carrots. This," he said, motioning to the shirt, "can be replaced." He poked her square in the chest, his finger sinking into her vest. "You can't."

He meant it from the bottom of his heart—but whether Judy realized the full extent of his words, he didn't know. He was quick to put back on his sly, joking smile, and Judy smiled back before starting the car up. If she _did_ suspect anything about his deeper feelings, she was doing a good job at hiding it.

 _Maybe I'm rubbing off on her._ He absentmindedly wiped some of the wetness off his shirt. _Well, I guess she's the one rubbing off on—_

"Hopps, Wilde, dispatch," the radio blared, cutting into Nick's thoughts.

Judy quickly picked up the radio pawset from the dashboard and clicked the button. "This is Hopps, over."

Clawhauser's voice came back, so distorted Nick could barely even tell it was him. "Code 34, City Hall."

"10-4, Code 34, City Hall. Intercepting, over." Judy plopped down the radio and turned to Nick, a smile plastered on her face. "You know what that means?"

Nick flicked out his shades and nodded. "Yep." Judy revved the engine and he leaned back in his seat. "It means we're done writing parking tickets for today."


	3. Chapter 3

Judy took the fastest route to City Hall, which the GPS had told them would take ten minutes. Instead, it took about four—five minutes shaved off due to the fact that it was a police car they were driving, and another one because Judy took many turns far faster than was safe.

Nick protested every single time, and every single time, Judy reminded him that they were responding to a Code 34. "Code 34. Aggravated battery. It's one step short of being an all-out attack, and it is happening at City Hall." The speedometer read that they were going over 80 at this point. "The mayor is there. The new assistant mayor is there. Half the ZPD is there—and they called for _backup_ , which means that whatever is going on, they are not handling it well on their own." She let off the gas only to take another turn, this time causing the left two tires to leave the ground, and three seconds later, she spun the vehicle around a group of parked cars, finally hitting the brakes.

Nick's shades nearly flew off his face as the cruiser came to a sudden halt. He stared straight ahead, eyes wide open, barely aware that they had arrived at their destination. City Hall stood high and mighty in front of them, stretching out to the sky like proud antlers. Or horns. Or bunny ears. Or…

Pain in his paws caused him to realize he was gripping the dashboard, claws buried up to his fingertips in the rubber. He forced himself to relax long enough to remove his claws, before looking himself over for a second to make sure he was uninjured.

He was fine, despite Judy's efforts. "And you're _sure_ bunnies aren't all bad drivers?"

Judy rolled her eyes, before the two of them unbuckled their seatbelts and threw open their cruiser's doors. Before either of them could step out, however, they were stopped by a blur of figures making their way toward the cruiser.

The movement was so fast, Judy didn't have time to react before she felt herself being pushed out of the seat and further into the vehicle, quickly being squished up against Nick. She was vaguely aware of the rear doors opening, the cruiser rocking back and forth violently, and then the doors closing just as suddenly.

The two were so shocked by the ordeal, they failed to realize for several moments that the commotion was actually caused by ZPD officers. Somehow, half a dozen of them had managed to squeeze into the back of the cruiser. A quick headcount from Judy told her it was actually the entirety of the detachment sent as security for this event—with the exception of Officer Trumpet, who was instead ducked behind the back of the cruiser in a hiding position, unable to fit inside the cruiser with the others.

Even Chief Bogo was inside. He was the one who had shoved Judy to the side, and was now sitting in the driver's seat. He, being the large mammal he was, seemed quite cramped as a result. His horns dug into the ceiling, much like Nick's claws had dug into the dashboard, which limited his movement even further.

And he was not in a good mood. "Hopps. Wilde," he mumbled in acknowledgement, not even giving them a glance with his eyes. He reached down, ripped the PA microphone from the console, and held it up to his mouth.

"Chief," Judy spoke up from her place under Bogo's elbow. "Can you at least give us a status update? What's going on that you needed our help?"

Nick's face was pressed up against the side window. He tried to speak up, but his words were lost to everyone in the car.

Bogo snorted; he may not have known what Nick said _exactly_ , but he could guess. "No more wise cracks today, Wilde. My patience is already spent."

"Chief?" Judy asked again.

Bogo held up a finger, before turning on the PA and speaking into it. "Okay, listen up, tiger." His voice echoed outside, thanks to the cruiser's PA system. "You've had your fun, but there's nothing left for you. Everyone is secured inside City Hall. There's nobody else for you to terrorize. Give yourself up now."

As soon as his finger left the button on the mic, he turned his head to Judy and Nick, ignoring the pieces of car ceiling he scraped off with his horns. "Mayor Lionheart was in the middle of his press conference. He had just announced his new assistant mayor." Nick muffled something into the window. "No," Bogo replied, "it wasn't any of the frontrunners. I think everyone was a little shocked when he announced it was going to be Fred Rolfe, a wolf from the Nocturnal District."

The other officers scrunched together in the back moved as a group when Wolford spoke up. "I approve of the choice." The dead silence that followed was enough to make him sit back apologetically.

Bogo grumbled, "I should have given them a bigger car today," before clearing his throat and continuing. "When Rolfe made his way to the podium to give his acceptance speech," he pointed out the windshield toward City Hall, still a hundred yards away, "this tiger started going crazy. He rushed the podium himself, and before any of us could stop him, he grabbed a baseball bat and started attacking the assistant mayor."

Judy gasped. Nick moaned, trying to feel his way to the window button on the armrest. "Why?" Judy asked. "Was he jealous? Did he know Rolfe?"

"Don't know," Bogo replied. "At this point, don't care, either." He pressed the button again. "If you give up, tiger, put your arms where we can see them, and approach the police cruiser slowly."

"Well, why didn't you take him down?" Judy asked. "Aggravated battery is more than enough justification to use—"

"When we approached him," Bogo interrupted, his face flushing the smallest hint of red, "he put his arms up in surrender. But we made the mistake of all coming close at once. Before we knew what happened, he had disarmed all of us."

"Martial arts," Fangmeyer commented in the back. "I took a year of it myself. It's something that tigers are expected to learn at least a _little_ bit. Obviously, this one spent more time on it than I did."

Bogo glared in the back. "If I hear one more interruption, I will put all of you on paperwork for a _month_! Am I clear?" When nobody else made a sound, he closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat, as if trying to forget the whole thing.

Nick finally found the button and rolled down the window. He stuck his head out and gasped for breath for a few seconds, before he turned back inside and asked the next question. "Where's the mayor and assistant mayor now?"

Bogo opened his eyes again, but remained relaxed in his seat. "The press was kind enough to barricade them inside City Hall while we were dealing with the tiger. Now he's all by himself out there." His eyes narrowed a little. "As a matter of fact…"

The area between the cruiser and City Hall, which had been completely barren up until now, was now occupied by a single individual. The tiger, dressed in a plain white T-Shirt and blue jeans, had his arms high over his head, walking very slowly toward the cruiser.

Everyone in the vehicle was shocked. "That was easy," Nick mumbled, head still out the window.

"That's what I'm afraid of." Bogo turned back to Judy. "Hopps, go arrest him."

Judy and Nick both stared at him in disbelief. "Me, Chief?" Judy asked, not quite sure if she heard him correctly.

"You're the best-known cop in Zootopia. If this _is_ a trick, maybe he will listen to you and give it up."

"And if he doesn't, sir?" Nick asked.

"Well, then you go and rescue her, of course, Wilde!" Bogo snapped. He turned his attention back to Judy. "You had a similar event to this earlier today already, and you told me that it has not impeded your ability to perform your duties. So you go out there and arrest this mammal."

The offer would usually have excited Judy, but she had already gone through an emotional roller coaster today, and this was one more thing to add to the stress. On top of having to go out and arrest a large, dangerous predator on her own—something over half a dozen of her own colleagues couldn't do together—she now had to go and do it without Nick.

But there was something else. Something the chief just said—that she had already done this once today—made her think. Was this a series of coordinated attacks? Were predators being targeted again as some kind of conspiracy? Was there _some_ kind of link between the polar bear from earlier, and the tiger now?

The more she thought about it, the more she felt that there _was_ some kind of connection. And she wanted to get to the bottom of it.

"It's probably a trap, sir," Nick spoke up in her defense. "I'd be much more comfortable if Judy had me to back her up."

"You are a fox, Wilde," Bogo replied, though this time not unkindly. "Need I say anymore?" He turned back to the bunny. "However, if you would like, I will allow—"

Judy shook her head and stood up, ready to do her duty. "I'll be fine, Chief." It was as much assurance to him, and to Nick, and to the other officers in the car, as it was to herself. "When you put it that way, I agree. This is the best course of action." She turned on her heel and stood on Nick's lap, ready to hop out the window.

Nick groaned in pain, surprised by the sudden weight on his legs. "Carrots," he whispered, catching her attention. "How will I know if you need help?"

Judy shrugged. "I guess if I'm attacked, that's your cue to help." She turned to Bogo. "Tell him to get on the ground, Chief." As Bogo prepared to speak into his mic, she added, "And tell him that I'm the one coming to meet him." With that, she jumped out of Nick's lap and through the window.

She heard Bogo's voice over the loudspeaker, and as soon as he was done talking, the tiger stopped in his tracks and lay on the pavement, arms stretched to either side. Judy drew her tranquilizer gun, just in case, and approached cautiously.

City Hall was part of Zootopia's skyline. No matter where you were in the city, you could see it. It stretched several stories into the sky, a symbol of the government's watchful eye over its citizens—both for the better and for the worse over the decades since it had been built. Usually, all sorts of species of mammals, from all walks of life, walked past City Hall in their daily life. Many worked inside the building itself, and it had been made in such a way as to accommodate everyone, from mice to giraffes. It wasn't uncommon for the front lawn to be populated by crowd of mammals throughout the busy day.

Right now, however, the only two mammals to be seen were Judy, walking ever so cautiously, and the tiger, lying flat on his stomach. His head rested on the ground in such a way that he was able to see her approach. When she was within a few yards, he spoke up. "Officer Judy Hopps?"

"That's right," Judy replied, still wary. "Keep your arms where I can see them."

"Don't worry, I will. I give up." The tiger's face was full of regret. He even seemed to be fighting off a tear. "I didn't mean for it to go this far. I just wanted to…" His voice trailed off, and he went to wipe his eyes with a paw.

"Where I can see them," Judy demanded, training her gun on the tiger's face.

The tiger quickly moved his paw back. "I'm sorry," he quickly said. Judy continued her slow approach. She knew, even now, this could be just a ruse to get her guard down. "I've heard about you, Officer Hopps, and how you saved us predators from Bellwether. You're a real hero to me."

Judy took another step forward, taking a hand off her gun only to retrieve the handcuffs from her belt. "I believe I was also the one who made life so hard for you predators in the first place," she murmured. It was a memory she would just as soon forget.

"But you made it right." The tiger locked eyes with her. "You have made Zootopia a better place, for _everyone_. You really have." The regret returned. "And now I've just ruined it all over again."

Judy came close enough to handcuff the tiger. He offered no resistance as she put a cuff on one paw, then the other. "Well, things certainly are a mess," she admitted. "But I don't think it will stay that way."

"What do you mean?" the tiger asked.

"Zootopia is only as good, or as bad, as you make it." Judy helped the tiger to his feet. "I've been a cop for over a year now, and that's plenty of time for me to see the best and the worst that mammals can do. I've seen mammals who have done everything in their power to make life miserable for everyone else."

The tiger's head lowered. "Oh?"

She flashed a faint smile. "But, hey, on the other hand, I've seen people from all walks of life come together for the greater good." She turned back to the police cruiser, ready to lead the tiger into custody, when she saw a bright orange object protruding from the side.

Nick's eyes locked with hers, and for a second, she could see he was still worried about him. But when she nodded to him that everything was okay, the worry passed, and a look of relief filled his face instead.

"And I've even met people who have turned their lives completely around," Judy continued, still looking at her partner. "People who realized that they could be more than just a pawpsicle hustler…" She turned back to the tiger. "Everything you've done here today can be forgiven and forgotten. You don't _have_ to be like this. _Nobody_ has to be like this. Because this is Zootopia, and in Zootopia, anyone can be anything."

The tiger smiled warmly. "Thank you, Officer Hopps."

Judy nodded. She began to turn to lead him back to the car, but realized she had not yet recited his Miranda Rights. "Do you have a name, sir?" she asked.

"Tony. Tony Stripes."

"Okay." Judy got behind him and motioned for him to start moving. "Tony Stripes, you have the right to remain silent."

"I just want to say…" Tony began.

Judy ignored him as they kept walking. "Anything you say can and will be used against you—"

"I didn't want to do it," Tony interrupted, stopping momentarily. "I was talked into doing it."

The statement caught Judy off-guard, making her stop for a second, but she pushed Tony forward and started talking again. "Anything you say can and will—"

"Please, Officer Hopps," Tony begged. "It's every important."

Judy pushed him a little faster, but stopped her recitation of his rights. "That's why you have to be quiet now, Tony." When the tiger opened his mouth again, she cut him off. "I don't want for you to incriminate yourself. If you have something to say, say it to a lawyer. Not a police officer."

Tony finally fell silent, and Judy finished telling him his rights. She finished at the same time they arrived at the police cruiser. By now the mammals inside had all managed to come out and were standing around the vehicle, each of them awestruck at the sight of the rabbit leading a mammal three times her size without any difficulty whatsoever. In fact, he thanked Grizzoli when the bear opened the back door to the cruiser.

Bogo stared at the tiger in disbelief as he let himself into the back, sat down, and smiled in gratitude when the door closed. "What did you do, Hopps?" he asked.

Judy held her paws behind her back and stood with pride. "Just helped make the world a better place, Chief," she replied.

Nick, once again by her side, patted her head in appreciation. "Show us your ways, senpei," he sneered.

Bogo rolled his eyes, before turning to the other cops and flicking his wrist. "Everyone, make sure the building is secure." After the officers saluted and began jogging to City Hall, Bogo turned his attention to Nick and Judy. "I'll escort our tiger 'friend' into custody. In the meantime, I'm sure the mayor and his new assistant will be very happy to see you two immediately."

Judy saluted. "Yes, sir."

Nick gave a two-finger salute, barely giving more effort than flicking his phone's lock screen. "Right away, sir." The two of them turned to follow the other officers.

"And Wilde?"

Nick turned back around and smiled at Bogo as genuinely as he could. "Yes, Chief?"

Bogo waved at him dismissively as he turned to enter the vehicle. "Take that meter maid jacket off. You look ridiculous."


	4. Chapter 4

Nick and Judy arrived at the front of City Hall just as Mayor Lionheart was being escorted out. The lion was flanked on both sides by his personal security detachment: four grizzly bears wearing black suits and dark glasses. Two of them were actually in the middle of struggling with Lionheart, pushing him against his will through the large double doors.

Judy, usually happy to meet the mayor, suddenly found herself hesitating. "Maybe now's not a good time," she whispered.

Nick shot her a sly smile. "Carrots, take it from me: the best time to talk to someone is when they're in the middle of something else."

"He doesn't even know we're coming," Judy insisted, slowing her pace. "We should come back when he's in a better mood."

As if to prove her point, Lionheart wrestled his arms away from his security and growled at them. "I'm done being mammal-handled for one day!" he barked.

Nick's smile only widened. "I'm sure Chief Ox-Breath would be happy to put us back on parking duty for the rest of the day—" he started.

Judy didn't let him finish. She grabbed his tie and dragged him the rest of the way to the steps in front of City Hall.

Mayor Lionheart saw them approach and regained his composure, straightening his stance and adjusting his collar and tie. "Ah, I take it you are the ZPD officers I have to thank for saving the day." Nick and Judy paused at the bottom of the steps and he began descending. "So, what are your names, officers?"

Judy, for one, was almost hurt. "Mayor, it's me. Judy Hopps."

Lionheart paused halfway down the steps. He blinked and stared at her with a blank expression. "Who?"

Judy could barely believe it. Mayor Lionheart had met her on several occasions—in fact, he was the one who had attended her graduation ceremony and personally assigned her to Precinct One. "Surely you remember me, Mayor. I was Zootopia's first bunny cop?"

Lionheart rubbed his chin. "Nope. Doesn't ring a bell."

Judy ignored the amused snicker from Nick and glared at Lionheart in disbelief. "I helped crack the Bellwether case?" No response. "Um…I arrested you that one time—"

Genuine recognition flashed across the mayor's face. "Hopps! Of course! How could I forget?" He quickly ran down the rest of the steps, grabbed her paw, and shook it violently, nearly shaking her entire body in the process. "I owe you such a great deal! You have no idea how grateful I am for your help today!"

Even after her paw was let go, Judy remained dizzy. She half-heartedly mumbled, "Thank you, Mayor," before motioning to Nick. "And this is my partner, Nick—"

"Wilde! Where have you been? I've been craving your pawpsicles for _months_!"

Judy froze in complete astonishment as Lionheart and Nick engaged in a friendly conversation. The mayor had failed to recognize _her_ , despite the major speech he had given at her graduation, despite her helping take down the sheep who had framed him, and perhaps most amazingly, despite her being the current _face_ of the ZPD. But he had no trouble recognizing the pawpsicle hustler who had…

"Wait a minute." Judy glared at Nick, hands on her hips and foot tapping impatiently. "You sold Mayor Lionheart pawpsicles?"

Nick shrugged, his smile never disappearing. "He liked them." He turned his attention back to the mayor. "But sadly, sir, I have sworn off that life. Instead, nowadays, I am this cute little bunny's partner on the police force."

Judy jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow. Nick leaned forward in pain, paws on his side, and Judy took the opportunity to grab his right ear. "Don't. Call. Me. Cute," she muttered.

Nick gritted his teeth, trying his best to hide his discomfort. He tried standing straight again, but Judy's strong grip on his ear prevented him from doing so. Defeated, he looked at her and forced a smile. "Whatever you say, Carrots." Satisfied, Judy let go, allowing him to recover.

Lionheart, oblivious to the exchange, motioned to his security, still at the top of the stairs. They nodded obediently and reopened the front double doors, giving Nick and Judy their first look at the new assistant mayor.

Fred Rolfe was a timber wolf, so big he stood almost as tall as Mayor Lionheart himself. His gray fur was groomed neatly on his head, with two single specs of white peaking out underneath his ears. He walked down the steps with his head held high, hands behind his back, blue eyes reading the three mammals below him. His tail swept the steps as he walked, erasing any prints his feet might have left on the concrete.

"Allow me to introduce you to my new assistant," Lionheart introduced. "I had just introduced him to everyone else when that tiger attacked." His smile disappeared. "I hope they throw the keys away," he muttered under his breath.

Rolfe's ears twitched. His wolf sense of hearing had allowed him to hear Lionheart's words even from several feet away. "I hope you don't disclose such personal feelings around the media, Mr. Mayor," he called. His voice was slightly raspy, as if it was half-dead from yelling too much. "I'm sure justice will be served fairly, regardless." He approached Lionheart, patted his back, and shot a glance at Judy and Nick. "Isn't that right, officers?'

Judy stood at attention. Nick barely straightened his stance. "We aren't here to serve justice, sir," Judy replied. "The ZPD just keeps the peace and enforces the law. We are not judges."

"Of course." Rolfe patted Lionheart on the back once more. "Well, thanks to the ZPD's quick work, Mayor Lionheart and I got out of that predicament unscathed. And I believe we have you two to thank for apprehending the culprit."

Nick's smile faded, ever so slightly. Nobody else might have noticed it, but Judy did, out of the corner of her eye. When she turned to look at him, though, it was back in full. "It's our pleasure, sir. Just doing our duty. Any other cop would have done the same thing. All in the name of—"

"Are you sucking up to me, Officer?" Rolfe asked.

Nick raised an eyebrow. "Is it working?"

If Judy didn't know any better, she could swear there was some animosity developing between the two. Nick's joking nature made it hard to tell, and she just didn't know the assistant mayor yet. But the uncomfortable pause between them after their exchange told her there was definitely _something_ going on beyond what she could see.

Mayor Lionheart was the one who broke the silence. "Now, isn't that nice?" He slapped Rolfe hard on the back, forcing the wolf to take an uneasy step forward to keep his balance. "Now, Fred, how about you and I take our two heroes upstairs and give them a medal or something?"

Rolfe continued to stare at Nick for another few seconds, his face impossible to read, but finally cracked a smile. "Of course, Mayor." He indicated the double doors at the top of the steps. "Shall we, officers?"

* * *

Judy stared at the medal in her hands. It was large—for her, at least—and looked gold-plated, so she _should_ have been excited to receive such a prestigious award.

There was just one problem. The medal, which originally read "1st Place in Football", now had the word "football" crossed out, with the word "Valor" hastily written underneath it.

Mayor Lionheart stood in front of her, smiling with pride, Sharpie still in his right paw. "Officer Judy Hoops," he began.

Judy cleared her throat. "Hopps, sir," she corrected.

"That's what I said. Officer Judy Hopps, for performing above and beyond the call of duty today, I present you with this medal of valor." He adjusted his tie and stretched out his paw. "Congratulations."

Judy shook his paw with the least amount of enthusiasm she could gather, never taking her attention off the medal she held. "Thanks," she murmured. For the second time today, Mayor Lionheart had insulted her.

The mayor chuckled, mistaking her disinterest for humility, and looked to her left. Nick stood there, paws behind his back, fake smile plastered on his face. "And for you, Officer Nicholas Wilde, I present _this_ medal of valor."

It was a cheap plastic thing, small even by her standards, and said prominently on the front "$1 for 1 Cub". It was a charity pin that was given out for awareness of poor cubs in the Nocturnal District—and the word "Valor" was, once again, written in underneath the slogan. This time, nothing was even crossed out.

Judy was so shocked, she couldn't even find the words to stand up for Nick. For the first time, Judy envied Bellwether; at least the words on her mug from Lionheart made sense.

If Nick was disappointed, he hid it well. He accepted the award with one paw and saluted with the other. "Thank you so much, sir. I'll cherish this forever. It sure does mean a lot. I will tell my children and grandchildren—"

"Sucking up again, officer?" Rolfe asked. He was standing behind the mayor, witnessing the ceremony but otherwise seeming uninterested. He patted Lionheart's back once more. "Mr. Mayor, I believe we have things of the utmost importance to discuss now?"

Lionheart waved a paw. "Sure, sure, Fred." He turned on his heel, walked to his desk, and called behind his back, "Mind giving us some space, cops?"

Insulted for the third time in the same day, Judy didn't even give a proper farewell. She just nodded, turned around, and walked away, barely aware of Nick doing the same. They exited the office, closed the door behind them, and walked to the elevator in silence.

They had to wait a minute for the elevator to arrive. During that time, Judy kept glancing over at Nick. His face, up until now with a smile plastered on it, was now furrowed up, as if he was thinking about something intensely.

"What is it?" she asked.

Nick stared at the digital numbers above the elevator, waiting patiently for it to reach their level on Floor 51. Right now, it was at 2. "Rolfe," he replied. "The way he talked. It bothered me."

Judy raised an eyebrow. "How did he talk?" she asked.

Nick shook his head, as if he was struggling to put it into words. The readout now read 10. "Maybe it's nothing," he admitted, "but all those big words he used."

"Don't all politicians use big words?"

"He's not a politician, though. That's why Mayor Lionheart's announcement to make him assistant mayor was such a shock." Nick stopped staring at the numbers, which just hit 28, and looked Judy in the eye. "He's a construction foreman."

Judy stared at him. "You're kidding." Nick's face told her that, for once, he was not. "How do you know this?"

"Chief Cow-Chin told me while you were busy with the tiger." Nick went back to concentrating on the numbers. 33. "Now, why would Mayor Lionheart choose a _construction foreman_ , of all people, to be the new assistant?"

"And why would he pick a predator instead of a prey?" Judy asked. When Nick shot her a curious look, she explained, "I heard it on the news this morning. All the frontrunners were prey. I got the impression the mayor _wants_ prey to help get our support, especially since what happened with predators with Bellwether."

Nick shrugged. "Pred or prey doesn't bother me, Carrots." He hooked a thumb over his shoulder, toward the closed door behind them. "That wolf does, though. Maybe it's the big words. Maybe it's something else."

"Something else like what?"

"I don't know." Nick sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Might just be the hustler side of me showing, trying to analyze someone I see as a threat."

"A _threat_?" Judy raised an eyebrow. "What kind of a threat is he to you?"

The number reached 51 and the doors opened with a ding. Before they were even fully separated, a blur ran out and collided with Nick, knocking him over.

Judy, being the fast mammal she was, was immediately aware of a cloud of papers that erupted from the mess of orange and brown now sprawled out on the floor. She sprang into action, managing to catch most of the papers in midair, and by the time she had gathered up the rest of them from the ground, she had a good look at what had caused the commotion.

It was a beaver, dressed in a plaid shirt underneath a brown suit. He was rubbing his head, eyes squeezed shut behind large glasses. Beside him, Nick, who had absorbed most of the impact, was helping him to his feet. "Are you all right?" he asked.

The beaver opened his eyes and looked around him in confusion. It took him a few seconds to process what just happened, but when he did, his eyes widened and he quickly grabbed Nick's paw. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" he exclaimed. "I was in such a rush, and I didn't think anyone would be leaving the mayor's office, and I—"

"It's okay," Nick assured him. He smiled and swept his paws over the beaver's shoulders. "Let bygones be bygones, right?"

Judy took a step forward and offered the beaver his papers. "I don't know if they were in a specific order, but here you go."

The beaver accepted them with a smile. "Thank you, ma'am." He balanced his papers on one arm and extended his other paw. "Dr. Chuck Wood."

Judy shook his hand. "Judy Hopps." She indicated Nick. "Nick Wilde, my partner."

Dr. Wood shook his paw afterwards, this time more slowly. "Nick Wilde, huh?" He said the name slowly, as if it reminded him of something. It would be no surprise to Judy, though; after all, Nick took great pride in knowing practically everyone in Zootopia. After a second, though, Dr. Wood seemed to dismiss it. "Well, I'm late for a meeting with Mayor Lionheart, but it seems he's busy with someone else, so I'll just wait for him out here."

Judy was about to tell Dr. Wood that the mayor was only talking with his new assistant, but before she could, she remembered that the elevator was still waiting for her and Nick. She hurriedly threw her arm into the doors as they closed, barely wedging it between them, and forced them back open. "Nick, time to go," she told him.

Nick nodded, walked with her into the elevator, and waved to Dr. Wood. "Hope to see you again, Doctor," he called.

Dr. Wood pushed his glasses up his nose. "Oh, we will, Officer Wilde. In fact, I'm a therapist, and I believe I'm supposed to have a session with you tomorrow afternoon."

The statement came as a shock to Judy. Nick had not told her he was seeing a doctor—and even if he was, she knew it was against the law for Dr. Wood to disclose that information in front of her without Nick's permission. She was fully within her rights right now, as an officer, to step up to him and arrest him right there.

Or she would, if Nick's expression was any less surprised than hers. His smile gone, his jaw dropped, he stared at Dr. Wood in disbelief. "Really? Me? You sure I'm the Nick Wilde you're seeing tomorrow? You're not confusing me with someone else?"

Dr. Wood shook his head. "Oh, no. I'm very sure, it's the fox Nick Wilde from the ZPD. Chief Bogo will give you all the details tomorrow morning."

Judy was so dumbfounded, all she could do was stare at Dr. Wood in disbelief. Nick managed to squeak out, "Why does Chief Bison-Feet want me to see a therapist?"

"You'll have to find out then, I suppose." Before anything else could be said, the doors closed and the elevator began its descent.

Nick and Judy spent the ride down in silence, contemplating all that had happened in just this one day. And if Dr. Wood's words were anything to go by, tomorrow wouldn't be much better, either.


	5. Chapter 5

Chief Bogo was uncharacteristically quiet. He stood at his podium, blankly staring at his notes, with such a long pause since coming into the room that everyone wondered if he had lost his voice for the day.

The expression on his face was solemn. He dreaded what he was reading, and seemed to wish it were not there. More than once, he opened his mouth to speak, but closed it immediately afterward, unable to bring himself.

More than a full minute passed. Nick was vaguely aware of the clock ticking on the back wall—something he didn't even realize existed before today. The soft breathing of all the other mammals filled his sensitive ears, and he could almost even hear Judy's heartbeat on the seat beside him.

The silence was borderline painful to him. Bogo was not the kind of mammal who liked to waste time. Usually, even if the news he had to deliver during the morning briefing was bad, he was short and to the point, just to get it over with. Today, however, whatever news the chief had must have been _really_ bad.

Nick opened his mouth to deliver a wisecrack, but thought better of it, and promptly locked his jaws. Almost as soon as he did, Bogo finally looked up from his notes. To Nick's surprise, he locked eyes with him specifically, out of all the mammals in the room.

Nonetheless, Bogo spoke loud and addressed everyone at once. "Before I hand out assignments today, I have a gift for some of you, straight from our new assistant mayor." He looked to the back of the room and raised his voice. "Clawhauser!"

The burly cheetah bounded through the rear door, his arms struggling to support a large brown box. He stumbled to the front of the room, gasping for air, and desperately looked around for a table to set the box on.

There wasn't one. Clawhauser began whimpering, the weight of the box crushing down on him, while Bogo, standing beside him, ignored his cries for help. "I must make it clear to all of you," he continued, locking eyes with Nick once again, "I protested this the whole way. But the new assistant mayor has ignored me, and insisted that either I hand these out, or he will find a new chief of police who will." He let out a long sigh, paused for a moment to gather his thoughts, and finally grabbed the box from Clawhauser.

Clawhauser gasped for breath, freed of his burden. "Oh, _thank_ you, Chief!" he breathed, beginning to walk down the aisle on his way out the door.

Bogo, unaffected by the weight of the box, cleared his throat. "This… This affects you too, Clawhauser." Clawhauser, stunned, froze where he stood, staring at the chief in confusion. Bogo ran a claw along the top of the box, cutting the tape that sealed it together, and spread the flaps open. "By order of the Office of the Mayor of Zootopia," he declared, "I hereby order all predators in the Zootopia Police Department to wear these."

As soon as he finished speaking, he reached into the box, grabbed something, and pulled it out, hanging it in the air for all to see. Nick felt his heart skip a beat when he laid his eyes on the object dangling between Bogo's claws, almost like a noose.

It was a shock collar.

Nick had never seen one in person, but he knew all about them. Shock collars had been used many years ago, back in a time when predators and prey were more at odds with each other than they were in modern times. They had been invented to help keep predators from attacking prey, designed in such a way as to deliver a sharp shock to the wearer if they became too aggressive.

They had been done away with upon the founding of Zootopia, a long time ago. Since then, predators and prey had lived in harmony. Sure, things weren't _perfect_ , but there had never been a reason to bring back the shock collars.

Obviously, Assistant Mayor Rolfe—a predator himself—had decided otherwise.

Bogo began walking up and down the aisles. He paused beside each predator in the room, took a shock collar out of the box, and placed it on the desk in front of them. "Assistant Mayor Rolfe has assured me that these shock collars are only for appearance's sake," he said as he walked. "They have been modified for cops in such a way as to always be inactive. For any other predator who wears these—and, I am sorry to say, there _will_ be more than just you—the collars will act as follows." He ended at Nick, holding the collar a bit longer than for the others, before dropping it on the desk with a _thunk_. "When the shock collar is properly secured, the light glows green. When the predator begins to act in an aggressive manner, the light turns yellow and beeps once in warning. If the predator continues with their aggressive behavior, the light turns red and delivers a powerful shock to the neck." He returned to the front of the room, tossed the box to the side, and held the final shock collar in his grip. "Should you see any predators in Zootopia wearing a shock collar with either a red or yellow light, you are to use any means necessary to either calm them down, or _take_ them down."

Nick stared at the shock collar on the desk. It was an otherwise-unassuming thing, black all over with a single small console on the side. It clipped in the back, with a small hole indicating that it could only be unlocked by a key. A small space where the light would be was currently blank, and he knew as soon as he put it on, it would shine green.

 _As soon as I put this on_ , he also realized, _I'm stuck with this._

Bogo stretched his arm out to Clawhauser, his face full of the most regret and pain any of the mammals had ever seen in him. "You too, Benjamin," he whispered; Nick could swear his voice was quivering.

Clawhauser seemed to have no idea what there was to worry about. He quickly, but professionally, grabbed the collar, and wrung it around his neck. As soon as it clipped in the back, the light turned on, spreading a green glow across the right side of his neck.

"Other predators throughout Zootopia will be fitted with shock collars over the next several weeks," Bogo continued. "Even Mayor Lionheart and Assistant Mayor Rolfe will wear them. For now, you cops will wear them for appearance's sake. It will help persuade our citizens that they are necessary, and that…" His voice trailed off, as it was obvious to everyone that he didn't believe a single word he was saying.

Nick didn't even bother turning around to see who called out the question. "Sir, who has the key?"

Bogo took a moment to respond. "As you all have seen, your shock collars are fitted with a lock that only a key can unlock. Assistant Mayor Rolfe has entrusted me with the key, and has instructed me to only keep it to myself." He reached into his pocket and produced the key—a very small thing, so small it could even fit in one of the pouches on Judy's utility belt.

 _But that small key is what stands between me and freedom as soon as I put this collar on._

Bogo swallowed hard as he put the key away. "You are to have your collars on you at all times, both on duty and off. Before you leave this room today, it is required of you to put those collars on, and leave them on until they are removed by me, or when the mayor's office withdraws this placement upon the city."

A few mammals raised their arms to ask questions, but Bogo waved them down. Then he looked upon the room in a way nobody had ever seen from him before. "Please, as your friend, I beg all of you to take this seriously. As I said, I'm fully opposed to this, but this is part of the job: doing things you don't want, all for the good of the city." He looked Nick straight in the face again. "I know you, Wilde." He looked over to Wolford. "And you, Wolford." To Fangmeyer. "And you. I know _all_ of you. You're all good cops. I could not ask for finer police officers in all of Zootopia. I have fought this as much as I possibly could, all on your behalf."

Nick looked back at the collar on the desk. Even though he knew it would never hurt him thanks to it being modified for ZPD officers, but even so, he had worked his entire life fighting against prejudice from prey—no, from just about _everyone_ , just because he was a fox. The world would never see him as anything more than a shifty, deceitful creature, and putting on this collar would just justify that.

"I cannot help you anymore," Bogo lamented. "If any of you wish to leave the ZPD as a result of this, I do not blame you." He indicated the door. "You can leave those collars on your desks and walk out of here right now, and nobody will think less of you."

Nick immediately dismissed the thought. Sure, he had been treated like trash his whole life—but he was finally here, an actual cop, _really_ making a difference in the world. He was an honest-to-goodness fox now, helping to make the world a better place, right alongside the best partner he could ever ask for…

Nick had hardly even thought about his bunny the whole meeting. He glanced over to her, and was met with a surprise. Judy was staring at the shock collar with even more horror than he was. He knew she was familiar with the device, and that she had a hatred toward it. Judy, in general, hated seeing _any_ mammal being mistreated, especially due to such a thing as mere prejudice. The shock collar was, in essence, exactly that.

Judy noticed him staring at her. He must have had a scared expression on his own face, too, because she instantly dropped her dread and replaced it with a firm smile. She reached out a paw and placed it on his arm, just like she had during their ride in the bungalow so long ago. She rubbed him softly, assuring him that, no matter what happened, they would get through it together.

 _Together…_

His mind made up, and his spirit filled with renewed determination, Nick picked up the collar and wrapped it around his neck. "With all due respect, Chief Longhorn," he said as he clicked the collar into place, "we're not going anywhere."

The green light turned on, glaring off to the right side in his vision. It didn't feel too uncomfortable, actually; it was no more noticeable than one of his ties. He was sure he would get used to it, and besides, as long as he kept his eyes on Judy, he'd be too busy to notice the green glow anyway.

He blinked. _Did I really just think that?_

The sound of the other collars clicking into place caught his attention. As he looked around the room, every single other predator grabbed their collar and firmly put it on their necks. Within seconds, several small green points of light filled the room, and each of the predators saluted Bogo.

Bogo, at a loss for words, could only stare at the room in disbelief. He was silent for several long seconds, before he covered his mouth to cough—or maybe sniffle?—and shouted, "Getting sentimental on me won't get you off duty today!" He grabbed his clipboard and hid his face behind it. "Assignments! Clawhauser, front desk."

Clawhauser saluted as best he could—his arm barely reaching up to his cheeks—and smiled. "Yes sir, Chief!" He then bounded out the room, off to his usual post.

Bogo's face continued to be hidden behind his clipboard. "Officers Pennington, Delgato, McHorn, Oates, and Higgins, the usual patrolling." He waited for the mammals to stand up and leave the room. "Officer Hopps, stay behind immediately after for a private meeting. And to everyone else…" He lowered his clipboard just enough for his eyes to poke out above it. "Psychiatric evaluation," he growled between his teeth.

The only officers left, besides Judy, were the predators who had just received their shock collars. Any optimism Nick had when he put on his shock collar was instantly gone. Unable to stop himself, he called out, "Psychiatric evaluation? _Why_?"

Bogo raised the clipboard back up and pretended not to hear Nick's cry. "You are to be interviewed, one by one, with Dr. Chuck Wood, a beaver who will give you a psychiatric rundown on behalf of the mayor's office."

At the mention of Dr. Wood's name, the brief run-in with the beaver from the day before suddenly made sense to Nick. Dr. Wood must have known that Rolfe would create this new policy, and knew that Nick would be one of the mammals coming in for a meeting.

 _Well, he seemed nice enough._ Nick jumped off his chair and stood at attention. _Hopefully he's reasonable as well._

Judy caught his attention with a quick wave. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow," she said. Her face told him that she had hoped to spend more time with him, and she was disappointed it was not to be.

Nick began to nod, but an idea struck him, and before he knew it, he was saying it out loud. "How about tonight?"

It was, thankfully, only loud enough for Judy to hear. The question caught her off-guard, as it did Nick himself.

"Any more wisecracks, Wilde?" Bogo asked impatiently.

Nick turned his attention back to Bogo and shot him a half-lidded smile. "No, sir. You have to pay extra for those."

Bogo snorted and pointed at the door to the side. Without saying another word, Nick saluted and followed the other predators out, leaving a very bewildered Judy sitting in the chair behind.

Judy was very surprised by Nick's offer. She really shouldn't have been; it was a very Nick thing to say. Perhaps it was just surprising that he had just gone through the experience of being given a shock collar—a _shock collar_ —and yet was able to offer such wisecracks immediately afterward. And not only that, unless she had misunderstood him, Nick had asked her out for a—

"Hopps?"

Judy blinked. She was all alone in the room, except for Chief Bogo, who now stood in front of her desk. She sat up straight, giving him her full attention. "Yes, sir?"

Bogo reached in his pocket and produced the key to the shock collars. "This one is yours." Before Judy could react, he continued quickly. "This is _not_ for Wilde. This is for an emergency, and in direct violation of my orders from the assistant mayor. He is not to know you have this. Do you understand?" Judy nodded, and he set it on the desk, paw still over it. "Did you read the history of the shock collars? Do you know why they were discontinued in the first place, all those years ago?"

Judy thought back to what she had been taught in school. She loved history, but never really paid attention to the part of history where predators wore shock collars. "When Zootopia was created, the predators were allowed to take their shock collars off, as a sort of peace offering from the prey."

"Partially," Bogo confirmed. "I think the bigger reason is that they didn't work properly. Do you _really_ think technology this archaic can tell when a mammal is acting aggressive? It's nothing more than a heart rate monitor with a shock attached. High heart rate, big shock, which means higher heart rate, and higher shock, and…" He sighed, gripping the key again, his claws scraping the desk. "These caused the deaths of so many mammals, most of whom never did anything wrong. I don't care what the assistant mayor wants. It will _not_ happen on my watch." He moved the key closer to Judy and let it go. "And I don't want it to happen on yours, either."

Judy took the key and stared at it, having a hard time comprehending that the lives of many mammals now lay, literally, in her paws.

"But I must make this clear—and I will _only_ say it once," Bogo warned. "Don't let Wilde know you have that."

Judy looked back at him and raised an eyebrow. "Any particular reason, sir?" she asked. "After all, he _is_ my partner. We share everything on the force. All responsibilities. All—"

"He is wearing a shock collar. You are not." Bogo rubbed his forehead, once again unable to believe he was having to talk about this. "I don't want him making favors for friends. Or using this situation to his advantage—"

It was Judy's turn to interrupt. "Because that's what foxes do, sir?" Bogo paused, stunned by her accusation. "Nick has been on the force long enough for you to know better than that." She narrowed her eyes. "Why would you even _think_ something like that?"

"I don't," Bogo insisted. "But the assistant mayor does. Apparently Wilde rubbed him the wrong way during your little talk yesterday." He pointed at Judy, driving his point home. "You let Wilde out of his collar, you're fired." When Judy once again opened her mouth to protest, he persisted, "By direct order of Mayor Lionheart, who backs this decision one hundred percent, nobody but me is supposed to know a key even _exists_ for the collars. I'm doing far more than I ought to right now by letting you _have_ one." He took one final breath and finished, "You've worked very hard to get this far, Hopps. Don't blow it just because of him."

Judy looked back at the key, contemplating the chief's words. It felt wrong keeping something like this from Nick. Not only would it be difficult for her to save mammals in distress without him seeing the key, but it was a blatant breech of trust. They had been partners long enough for her to trust him with anything, and knew he did the same.

But at the same time, her dream from the other night flashed through her mind momentarily. Nick's teeth and claws flying at her, the feeling of helplessness in her heart as she knew he would kill her, and there was nothing she could do…

 _Maybe this_ should _just be my little secret_ , she decided, and slowly tucked the key into one of the pouches on her utility belt.

"Understood, Chief," she relented.

Bogo patted her shoulder reassuringly. "I don't like it either, Hopps. But like I said, being a cop is full of tough decisions." She locked eyes with him, and was met with a warm, confident gaze. "Sometimes there _is_ no right decision. Sometimes we just have to do what we can, and hope it all works out anyway."

His words helped Judy feel better. _I am not alone in this. Chief Bogo is facing worse things than I am right now, and all the predators have to wear the collars anyway. I'm just the one with the key._ She straightened up. "Thank you, sir."

Bogo smiled, before raising his clipboard. "Now, your assignment for today." He glanced over it. "Those two vicious predators you helped take in yesterday. They are fully conscious and ready for questioning. You will be the one who takes care of that. No holds barred, I want you to interrogate the fur off their skin if you have to."

Judy rose to the challenge. She had never performed a police interrogation before—let alone against two mammals that she had arrested personally—but she was more than happy to jump to it. With any luck, it would also keep her mind off the things that had just been discussed.

She jumped out of her chair and saluted. "Yes, sir! I'll get right to it." She turned on her heel and ran out of the room, waved to Clawhauser on her way down the hall, and made her way to her cubicle to gather the necessary paperwork.

Her only pause was when her phone went off with a text message. She pulled it out and was greeted with a picture of Nick's face, along with the words that made her face flush the slightest hint of red.

"Pigs In A Blanket, 7 PM. Meet you there?"


	6. Chapter 6

Nick stared at the door in front of him, hardly able to believe the words printed on the window.

"'Dr. Chuck Wood'," he read out loud. "'BUILD A Better You'." He rolled his eyes and sighed. _Even_ I _think that's corny_.

He didn't want to do this. He _really_ didn't want to do this. The last thing he wanted right now was to talk with a psychologist about his true feelings about…well, anything, but _especially_ about this stupid shock collar he was now forced to wear.

He had put it off as much as possible. All the other predators had gone in, one by one, and had their hour-long session with Dr. Wood throughout the rest of the day. There had been so much time to kill until his turn, Nick had gone back home and changed into his favorite khakis, green Pawaii shirt and striped purple tie.

But now there was nobody left but him. He, Nicholas Piberius Wilde, was about to see a _therapist_. And he was not looking forward to it one bit.

He took a deep breath, put on the fakest smile he could manage, and pushed open the door. He took a moment to examine the room, taking note of the oversized black-leather couch in one corner and Dr. Wood sitting in a small chair in the exact opposite corner, writing down some notes. Two of the walls were lined with shelves and shelves of books—most of them, of course, dealing with psychology—and the last one was cluttered with various awards and degrees Dr. Wood had earned.

 _Graduated from Hoofard. Impressive._ Nick waved a paw and widened his grin. "Hey, Dr. Wood! Nice to see you again, sir!"

Dr. Wood looked up from his clipboard and smiled warmly. "Yes, indeed, Mr. Wilde." He motioned to the couch. "Please, make yourself comfortable."

"Don't mind if I do," Nick murmured, half-jumping onto the couch and plopping down, facing the opposite direction of Dr. Wood. "And please, call me Nick," he added as soon as he was comfortable, more as a formality than an insistence; if it were up to him, Dr. Wood wouldn't be talking to him at all.

"Very well, Nick," Dr. Wood obliged, flipping to a new piece of paper and taking new notes. "So, I believe you know why you are here?"

Nick lay flat on his back, stuffing a pillow underneath his neck and flicking his tail back and forth. "I assume it's because of this?" he asked, scratching at the collar around his neck. For most of the day, he had actually forgotten it was there, but every once in a while he developed an itch and found it hard to scratch past the hard material of the collar.

"Indeed," Dr. Wood acknowledged. "Now, before we start our session, I have to let you know your rights as my patient—"

Nick cut him off, not in any mood to prolong this session any further than necessary. "My rights are that you don't tell anyone I'm seeing a therapist, and anything I say is completely confidential unless I intend to harm someone or do something otherwise illegal." He shot a grin in Dr. Wood's direction. "That about sum it up?"

Dr. Wood blinked, caught off-guard by Nick's abruptness. After a second, he nodded his head and smiled again. "Pretty much. Also, under law, you have the right to refuse talking about this session with anyone, including law enforcement."

"Ah, yes, how could I forget that one?" Nick muttered.

"You've been to therapy before, then?"

"Pfft." Nick swatted at the air, offended that the notion was even brought up. "I only know all that stuff because I'm a cop. I've never needed therapy. I've been pretty happy my whole life, as a matter of fact."

"That's a good start." Dr. Wood pressed the back of his mechanical pencil and readied it on the paper. "Tell me about your life, Nick. Start from the beginning."

For a second, Nick was tempted to make up a bogus backstory and make himself the biggest John Doe in all Zootopia—the most average fox, with the happiest life in existence. It would be easy to do; after all, he had lied for a living most of his life, and that backstory was certainly one he had told before.

However, something in the back of his mind told him that this time, it would be better if he told the truth. Sure, his life wasn't the best growing up, and he had only recently begun living an honest one, but it was certainly _his_ story, and it certainly was quite the tale of how he got to where he was now.

Besides, Chief Bogo had a file on him, and Dr. Wood undoubtedly had access to it.

With a sigh, he began. "I was born thirty-three years ago; I just celebrated my birthday last month. I had a single mom, who loved me more than any mother's ever loved a son." On that particular fact, he had _never_ lied about. "I grew up thinking Zootopia was the best city in the world, where predators and prey live together and sing Kumbaya." He sighed. "I went through a… Well, let's just call it an incident, when I was young that taught me otherwise."

"You can tell me about it," Dr. Wood suggested.

"I'd rather not," Nick muttered. He rarely told the story, and when he did, it was only to mammals he trusted—which was _certainly_ not this beaver therapist.

"Okay, we can leave that for now." Dr. Wood started a new page. "But this _incident_ , as you call it, obviously had a big impact on you. Chief Bogo has been gracious enough divulge your entire background to me."

 _I knew it._

"And it seems you were a hustler most of your adult life." Dr. Wood took a second to review a precious sheet of paper. "Actually, even longer than that from the looks of it."

Nick shrugged. "Penalty of being a predator." He stared up at the ceiling, grateful that the lighting in the room was at a low level. "The world expects foxes to be shifty and deceitful, so why bother being anything else? So I spent a good twenty years doing just that—and it made me a small fortune as well, so I figured life was good."

Dr. Wood took a few minutes to write down more notes, then asked the question Nick knew was next. "But you're not a hustler anymore. Now you're a police officer—the first fox on the entire ZPD force. What changed? What made you decide to do it?"

"I made a friend who helped me realize I could be more than just a hustler." The less Nick said about Judy, the better. Even worse than talking about his past, and about his protests with this finagled shock collar, would be to open up about his feelings toward his bunny partner. "So I decided it was worth a shot to try and become a cop. And I guess it worked, because here I am."

"And are you happy with where you are now, Nick?"

"Laying on a couch, talking to a beaver, wondering why I'm even here?" Nick craned his neck. "Oh yeah, I'm _really_ happy right where I am."

He expected Dr. Wood to be taken aback by his sarcastic remark. He expected the beaver to at least react in some way. Instead, Dr. Wood put down his pencil, folded his paws, and leaned back in his chair. "Please, continue," he encouraged.

Nick blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

Dr. Wood calmly brushed his shirt. "You are here, in my office, talking about how happy you are. But you don't _sound_ happy—although I sense you really are." He folded his paws again. "At least, you really are when you're not in a therapy session you don't want to attend."

Nick gritted his teeth, fought back another sarcastic remark, and let out a long sigh. "Well," he said after a pause, "overall, yes, I'd say I'm very happy. I mean, I like my job. I really feel like I'm making a difference in the world, and that I'm making myself a better person as well. I have a great partner on the force—actually, she's the one who convinced me to join—and I—"

"She?" Dr. Wood interrupted.

Nick froze. "I didn't say 'she'."

Dr. Wood tapped his pencil, indicating he had written down a note as soon as Nick had spoken the word out loud. "We could sit here and argue for the rest of our hour, but I don't think either of us really wants that, do we?" He glanced at his watch. "Besides, this is being paid for by tax dollars."

"Don't mention tax dollars," Nick quickly murmured, the two words leaving a sour taste in his mouth. "And I prefer to keep her out of this. I'm not here to talk about her."

"Of course." Dr. Wood took another note, then set his pencil back down. This time, he stood up and walked over to one of his many bookshelves. "Listen, Nick. I would love to talk about your life story. I'd love to get to know you, in a personal level—but I also realize that is not what you want to talk about. That's not why you're here, anyway. You're here because of the shock collar. Undoubtedly, it is causing a great deal of discomfort to you."

"Not really," Nick replied, quite honestly. "It's just stupid I have to wear it." He flicked his tail in disgust. "I mean, this doesn't even _work_ like they usually do. I'm wearing it just because the new assistant mayor required it of us predator cops. I _guess_ to set an example to other predators in Zootopia." His fingers curled in a fist around the collar. "Labeling all of us like we're some kind of threat to society."

"He'll be wearing one himself," Dr. Wood replied. "And so will Mayor Lionheart. The cops are not the only ones who are going to set an example for Zootopia's predators."

None of that helped. "The _last_ assistant mayor framed Lionheart and was _this_ close to getting rid of predators altogether." Nick held two fingers a hair apart from each other, before curling his paw into a fist. "And even if we _do_ stick around, what's next? Curfews? Perhaps mandatory caging after 9 PM every day?"

Dr. Wood nodded his head slowly as he thumbed through his books, picked one he liked, and took it off the shelf. "Assistant Mayor Rolfe is a big fan of philosophy, as am I. Are you familiar with Hopps, Nick?"

Nick felt his heart stop for a split-second. "Hopps?" he asked, as calmly as he could.

"Yes, Thomas Hopps," Dr. Wood replied, to Nick's immense relief. "He was a bunny who lived four hundred years ago. But his ideals helped build the world that we live in today." He opened the book to a particular page and read it out loud. "'For all mammals, whether predator or prey, are solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.'" He closed the book and reshelved it. "You see, Nick, we may be evolved, but we are still animals." He sat back down in his chair. "I'm an animal. You're an animal. _All_ of us are animals—and animals are not inherently good creatures. Our instincts are to survive, by any means necessary." He picked back up his clipboard. "Predators' instincts are to kill and eat prey. Prey's instincts are to fear predators. The shock collars are a way of helping to alleviate that fear."

Nick understood—he understood before he had even entered Dr. Wood's room—but he still didn't like it. "I guess I just thought better of this city. After what happened last year with Bellwether, I thought we had moved past our differences." He turned to look Dr. Wood in the eye. "Predators were targeted for things they didn't do. That's _exactly_ what's happening now." He pointed at his collar, the green light reflecting off his paw. "With these."

"And _that_ is why you are here," Dr. Wood replied. "I view it this way, Nick: Your shock collar doesn't even work, so what's there to be afraid of? Perhaps you are taking all of this just a little too seriously?"

Nick scratched his neck. The more he talked about the shock collar, the more the fur underneath it itched. "It's the principle of the thing. This is for appearances' sake, right? So that other predators in Zootopia will look at me and say, 'Hey, look, that cop is wearing a shock collar. That means it's okay to fall victim to discrimination'!" His voiced was raised by now. "You know, after a few thousand years of evolution—of predators and prey striving to live together in harmony, of them working together, and even _loving_ each other…" The sound of writing stopped as Dr. Wood raised an eyebrow. However, he remained silent, and let Nick finish. After a deep sigh, the fox did so, in as calm a voice as he could manage. "I guess, being a member of the prey family, you just wouldn't understand."

Dr. Wood set down his clipboard and pencil, indicating that their session was almost wrapped up. "You're right. I don't. And I probably never will." He leaned back in his seat. "But there are others who _do_ understand. I've talked with every predator in the ZPD today, and they all have expressed the exact same issues with the shock collars as you. They all view it as a brand, which labels you as dangerous to everyone else—even other predators."

Yes, he knew he wasn't alone. All those other predators in the ZPD were going through exactly the same thing he was right now. However, even though all of them had made the decision to put on their collars, they were all now accepting the discrimination that the collars begged from the rest of the world. And not only that, but with the assistant mayor's plan in place, the rest of the predator population in the city would soon suffer the same—except their shock collars would actually _work_.

"So are we just supposed to accept that this is our future? That this is our _fate_?" Nick crossed his arms. "How long will this last? Just a few months? A few years? Or is this going to be the way it is for as long as predators exist?"

Dr. Wood thought for a second, paw stroking his chin. "Does your partner know how you feel about this?"

The question caught Nick off-guard. _There he goes again, bringing her up._ No matter what the subject, Judy seemed to keep popping up. "I didn't exactly get an opportunity to tell her before coming over," he groaned.

"Then I suggest talking with her about it. I've seen that in the ZPD, the mammals cops trust the most are their partners on the force. She might be a bigger help to you than I am." He wrote down another note. "When do you see her again? Tomorrow morning?"

Finally, something he could lie about. "Yes, as a matter of fact." He flashed a smile in Dr. Wood's direction. "Not until then."

"Great, so you have dinner tonight," Dr. Wood replied. Nick's smile disappeared. "I am very good at realizing when people are lying, Nick. You've been good until now, though, which I commend. It's a tribute to your species."

Nick snorted. "Fine, we have dinner tonight." He sat up quickly and added, "But it's _not_ a date."

"I never said it was."

"Good, we're all clear." He relaxed a little. "Not a date. Just two friends, casually eating dinner together."

"If you say so."

"I _do_! Absolutely platonic," Nick insisted.

"I get it."

"It will just be two friends, who _happen_ to be one male and one female, eating dinner together in a casual setting, with no hints of—"

"Nick," Dr. Wood snapped, "I don't think I'm the one you're trying to convince here."

The statement finally made Nick stop. After a second, he realized Dr. Wood had never said it was a date; he hadn't even implied it. It was something that Nick had come up with in his own head.

He blinked hard. _What's wrong with you, Wilde? What's gotten into you? You're better than this. You're Slick Nick, the hustler, the smooth talker, the sly fox. What is it about that dumb bunny that has you losing your touch all of a sudden?_

Judy definitely had an impact on Nick. Ever since he had first met his purple-eyed rabbit, he couldn't seem to stop thinking about her. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't get the image of her out of his mind. With her beautiful amethyst eyes, and warm, honest smile, and…

"We're not dating," he clarified.

"Uh-huh," Dr. Wood responded, unconvinced. He reached for his paper once again. "Do you want to talk about it more? You obviously have feelings for your partner. If it's something you need to talk through, I can do it." He smiled and winked. "After all, I won't tell her. Legally, I can't."

For the first time today, Nick seriously considered the offer. He had been fighting off the growing feelings in his heart for a long time now, and he had no one to talk to about it. He couldn't discuss it with anyone in the ZPD, because obviously they would tell Judy about it. And he could talk with _Judy_ about it, either, because…

 _Well, because she'll think I'm crazy. She's a_ bunny _. I'm a_ fox _. We have nothing in common. I'm a predator, and if her dream from the other night is anything to go off of, she's still scared of me. What makes me think I even have a_ chance _with her? She doesn't love me. She_ can't _love me. It's impossible, even if I love her…_

The last thought made Nick's heart skip a beat. _Do I love her? Do I love Judy Hopps?_ Perhaps, by talking about this with Dr. Wood, he could find out for sure if it was really love he felt, or just some other fleeting feeling he had never felt before?

After thinking about it, he finally shook his head. "No." He rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. "I think I'm done talking for today."

Dr. Wood nodded understandingly. He glanced at his watch. "Our time is up anyway." He stood up and stretched out a paw. "It's been a real slice of heaven, Nick."

Nick dragged himself off the couch, shook the beaver's hand, and silently walked out the door, letting it close behind him.

A second later, it opened back up. "And Nick?" Dr. Wood called.

Nick turned around, barely giving the beaver any more attention than necessary. "Yes, Doc?"

Dr. Wood smiled. "I met Judy yesterday. Remember? The two of you were together." He didn't wait for Nick to reply before softly shutting the door.

Not that Nick had a reply anyway. His dropped jaw wouldn't allow one.


	7. Chapter 7

Judy stood in front of the door leading to the interrogation room. She clutched an elephant-sized notebook in her arms, clinging it close to her body. Her little heart raced inside her chest, the anticipation of what was to come hanging over her mind.

She was nervous. She kept trying to persuade herself that she was only nervous because it was her first ever interrogation, _not_ because she was about to enter a room with a dangerous mammal. She kept reminding herself she was past her prejudices, and that she would be just as equally timid if there were any prey in the room.

The longer she stayed here, the faster her heart beat. The notebook shook in her paws, and it took her a few seconds to realize it was actually the other way around. Her sensitive ears could hear the polar bear on the other side of the door, sitting in a chair, leaning against the metal table, breathing heavy but consistent, one digit tapping impatiently while he waited for her to walk in.

She wanted to believe that this was part of her ultimate plan: to stand outside the door for far longer than necessary, causing the polar bear to become so impatient he would spill the beans before she could even enter. But she knew that was a lie. If anything, she wanted to get the whole thing over with as soon as possible.

 _May as well._ She took a deep breath, pressed her paw to the door handle, and pushed down. As the door opened, the polar bear jerked his head in her direction and growled deeply.

He was not a threat to her; his paws were in handcuffs and he was tied down to his chair, which itself was permanently attached to the hard stone floor. Judy casually walked to the other side of the table, took a seat in the rabbit-size chair, and set the notebook down on the table. She folded her paws, made herself comfortable, and stared at the polar bear.

"Let me get straight to the point," she started. "We both know why you're here. I'm the officer who arrested you, so I don't need to know your end of the story. I already know what happened, because I was there." She opened her notebook to the first page, produced her carrot pen from her belt, and laid it on the table. "What I'm interested in is not what I already know, but what I _don't_ know."

The polar bear glared at her. "Very good," he said.

Judy blinked, and mentally slapped herself. _Genius, Hopps. You sure have a way with words, don't you?_ She refused to let her emotions show, however, and picked up the carrot pen. "You gonna start talking or not?" she asked.

The polar bear sighed, before raising his paws in the air dramatically. "Oh, Officer," he said sarcastically, "I am but an innocent bystander, the unfortunate result of mistaken identity. I have no part in any of this. I've been framed. There was an earthquake, a _terrible_ fire, and it flooded everything." He paused before flashing a grin. "Anything else, Officer?"

Judy's pen had not moved at all. "Is that the way it's going to be?" she asked.

The polar bear leaned back in his chair. "What? You don't believe me?"

Judy had to fight from rubbing her forehead. _This is going to be a long day._ She readied her pen again. "How about we start with your name."

"What, your fancy police duh-nuh database didn't find a match for me?" the polar bear asked, the smug look still plastered on his face—it reminded Judy too much of Nick.

"We can go that route if you want," Judy admitted, "but wouldn't it just be easier for you to tell me? It would sure save both of us a lot of time."

"Does it really look like I have somewhere I need to be?" the polar bear asked, even as Judy could hear his foot impatiently tapping the floor.

Judy once again dropped the pen. This time, an idea formed in her mind. She stood up, walked back to the door, and knocked. A few seconds later, Delgato opened up the door. "What is it, Hopps?" he whispered through the crack.

Judy replied in a loud and clear voice. "Yes, Officer Delgato. Do you know what the policies are for _shaving_ suspects?" She enunciated every word, throwing a glance back at the polar bear.

He, upon hearing her words, stopped tapping his foot. He froze up, and she could almost hear his heart stop beating. "You wouldn't," he murmured.

"Are you all right, Hopps?" Delgato whispered, eyebrow raised.

"Yes, Officer Delgato. That's what I thought, as well," Judy said, replying to an imaginary response. "That until the guilt of a suspect is determined, the ZPD can lawfully _shave_ them in any way seen fit."

Delgato caught on. "Oh, absolutely, Officer Hopps," he replied, equally as loudly and clearly. "Shall I find the sheep shears?"

"Do we have _polar bear shears_ somewhere, Officer Delgato?" Judy replied.

Before Delgato could respond, the polar bear jumped—or tried to jump—and reached towards them. "All right, all right, I'll talk!" he begged.

Judy nodded at Delgato in thanks, let the door close, and walked back to her seat. "I'm all ears," she said as she picked her pen back up.

The bear scoffed, eyeing her tall bunny ears. "I can see that," he chuckled.

Judy growled, wishing she had picked a better choice of words. "Please start," she said through gritted teeth.

The polar bear started talking almost immediately. "My name is Victor Bruin. I am from Tundra Town, address 4421 Barrow Avenue. I work for Claw & Teeth Waste Disposal. My boss is a skunk named Arnold Stinkavich. His phone number is 966-867-4228. He can vouch that I went to work yesterday morning, and was on duty when I was arrested."

Judy hurriedly wrote down her notes, genuinely surprised at how forthcoming the polar bear was. "So you live in Tundra Town. What were you doing in Savannah Central?"

"Claw & Tooth services all of Zootopia's districts," Bruin explained. "We have several teams of trash collectors who rotate districts every week. This week I was assigned to Savannah Central. Usually we all pick up trash at the crack of dawn, but I wanted to get it done even earlier, since…" He spread his paws as far as he could. "I don't do so well in the heat."

Judy kept writing down notes. So far, everything seemed to make sense to her. The information Bruin provided her could easily be verified within a matter of minutes, and she had a feeling he was telling the truth simply because of the sheer amount of forthcoming data.

But now came the million-dollar question. "Why did you go on a rampage in Savannah Central yesterday morning?" she asked, holding his gaze.

Bruin was silent for several long, uncomfortable seconds. "I don't remember going on a rampage, Officer," he replied flatly.

Suddenly, all the notes Judy had written down were as good as useless to her. "Are you kidding me?" she asked, slamming her pen down hard on the table. She stood up on her chair and leaned closer to Bruin. "Are you going to tell me that to my _face_? I saw what you did. I'm the one who—"

"I _know_ what I did, rabbit," Bruin snapped. "All I said was I don't _remember_ it."

Judy's eyes narrowed, hands on her hips. "Am I supposed to believe that?"

"I don't care _what_ you believe. I'm telling you the truth." The corner of Bruin's mouth twitched slightly, indicating he was fighting off a growl. "If you sit back down I might even tell you my whole story."

Judy continued glaring at Bruin, but forced herself to settle back in her seat. "This ought to be good," she mumbled. She readied her pen once again and motioned for the polar bear to continue.

"You can call my boss and he will verify all of this," Bruin began. "I clocked in at the office in Tundra Town at exactly 3:30 in the morning. I made some coffee with Mr. Stinkavich and was out the door by 3:45. I met with the rest of my team by our trash truck, and drove to Savannah Central to begin trash collecting at around 4. Usually it takes about three hours to take care of each district, so my plan was to be done by 7 and be back home by 8."

Judy wrote down her appropriate notes, then waited patiently for Bruin to continue. He was silent for several long seconds, eyes darting back and forth, as if he was having a hard time remembering exactly what happened.

Finally, he continued, "I'm a garbage mammal, Officer Hopps. But I'm a _predator_. My biology—my instincts—are always tugging at me, begging for me to make a better mammal of myself. It's something I always think about, and often daydream about. If I wasn't a garbage mammal, what would I do? What else would I _want_ to do?" He scratched the underside of his chin. "It was heavy on my mind the whole morning, for the full hour from when I started working until the last thing I remember. I was just thinking the whole time, that this job was below me—that it would be below _any_ predator. To be at the bottom of the proverbial food chain…" He sighed. "I always aspire for more."

Judy was used to helping mammals feel better, and to encourage them to make the world a better place. Despite her current foul mood, she genuinely felt a hint of pity toward Bruin. Sure, there were more glamorous jobs than being a garbage mammal, but the world needed them just as much as the world needed cops like her.

But she was interrogating him, not giving him counsel. "What _is_ the last thing you remember?" she asked, keeping her voice as strict as possible.

Another moment of struggle. "I was kicking one of the trash cans after I emptied it. I don't usually do that. Even though I don't particularly like my job, I try and act as professional as possible. Something was going on with me yesterday, though. I found it easier to get agitated, and I couldn't stop thinking negative thoughts. Thoughts about how much I hated my job, and hated being a predator suck picking up trash, and…" He rubbed his temples, as if the very memory of thinking those thoughts was exhausting him. "And then after that, I can't remember anything."

"Do you know about what time that was?" Judy asked.

Bruin shrugged. "Maybe 5 or 5:15." He thought some more, trying to remember anything else, but gave up. "Next thing I knew, I woke up here, in handcuffs and accused of going savage."

"Not savage, sir," Judy corrected. "I saw your behavior. It seemed obvious to me you were in complete control of your actions. You were aware of your surroundings, and you spoke very clearly when addressed." She set down her pen. "But you _were_ terrorizing Savannah Central. And you want me to believe you don't have a single recollection of doing so?"

"It's the truth." Bruin looked at the one-way window behind Judy, behind which undoubtedly stood several officers and maybe a few lawyers. "It's the truth, I tell you!" he shouted, suddenly struggling to rise from his chair.

Judy immediately jumped out of hers and onto the table, hands stretched out. "Okay, calm down!" she quickly pleaded. "Calm down!"

Bruin turned his attention back to her. "Calm down?" he growled. "Calm down?" His voiced raised. "My whole future is on the line and you want me to _calm down_?" He pressed his paws on the table and leaned forward as far as he could, coming to within inches of Judy's head. "I don't remember anything, rabbit! Are you listening to me? I don't remember _anything_!"

Judy forced herself to stand her ground, despite Bruin being so close now she could practically see down his throat as he yelled. She turned to the one-way window and raised three fingers, the indication that she required backup. Almost immediately, the door opened and Delgato and Fangmeyer burst in, Delgato holding a taser and Fangmeyer holding a shock collar.

Bruin barely noticed. "I'm not a savage predator! I would _never_ terrorize innocent mammals! I'm not capable of it!"

Fangmeyer sneaked behind Bruin and slipped on the shock collar, clicking it place in the back. As soon as it turned on, it blinked green for but a second before immediately switching to yellow and giving a warning beep.

Bruin continued to ignore it all. "Listen to me, Officer Hopps! You _have_ to believe me! I am innocent! _I am innocent!_ "

A second later, the light on the collar turned red. A loud zap sound emerged from the box, and Bruin's eyes widened in pain. He gritted his teeth, still mere inches away from Judy's face, and tried clawing at his neck with his paws. Delgato continued to train his taser on Bruin, prepared for the worst.

Bruin, however, seemed to understand what was going on, and forced himself to take long, deep breaths. After a few long, uneasy seconds, the light on his collar turned back to yellow, and several seconds later, he relaxed in his seat and it turned back to green.

Throughout the whole ordeal, Judy had not moved from her position. Her feet firmly planted on the desk, she could only look on Bruin in pity. Perhaps it was true, and Bruin really didn't remember the whole ordeal. Perhaps he was lying, in an attempt to have any charges against him dropped. But one thing was for sure: the way he handled the shock collar was very different from the way he had handled being cornered by her the day before. Then, he had done everything in his power to avoid capture, and even seemed willing to be killed rather than be taken in.

Now, however, he had calmed down faster than any other mammal she had ever seen, resigned to his punishment and doing what was necessary to make the pain go away quickly. While Judy should have felt more safe as a result, she felt the exact opposite reaction: Bruin's quick submission would soon be the fate of many other predators in Zootopia-a fate that, just a year before, she had fought against.

Earlier that day, when Nick had been faced with the tough decision on whether to put on his collar or leave the force, she had patted his arm in reassurance, that no matter what decision he made, she would be there for him. _Should I have encouraged him to leave?_ she suddenly wondered. Sure, his shock collar didn't work, but it labeled him as just as big of a threat to society as Bruin's did now, and it would just give prey even more of a reason to fear him.

Satisfied that the danger was over, Delgato lowered his taser and turned to Judy. "You okay, Hopps?" he asked.

Judy had to put her thoughts aside for another time. She nodded, before bending down and gathering her notes. "I think we're done here," she said, both to her fellow officers and to Bruin. She handed the papers to Fangmeyer. "I have another one in an hour. Could you photocopy these and give one to Bogo?"

Fangmeyer took the papers, nodded silently, and left the room. Delgato worked on untying Bruin from the chair. Bruin quietly allowed it, knowing better than to struggle.

Judy knew it was best to leave him in silence, but she felt after all he had been through the past two days, he deserved at least a word or two of encouragement. _But what can I say?_ She opened her notebook to a new page, preparing for her nearing interrogation with Tony Stripes. _I don't really know if I believe him when he says he doesn't remember anything, and even if I did, there's no denying that he did terrorize a whole district. And he is probably going to be stuck in that collar for the rest of his life—over something he probably had no control over._

Delgato helped Bruin up and began escorting him out. Head held low, Bruin allowed it, not doing anything to provoke his heart to race any faster.

A thought crossed Judy just as they reached the door. "It just occurred to me," she said out loud, causing Delgato and Bruin to pause, "ever since I came to Zootopia, I don't recall seeing a single piece of garbage on the streets."

Bruin glanced over his shoulder, locking eyes with her for a moment. Judy wasn't sure, but she thought, for a split second, she saw the faintest off smiles cross his face, before the door closed behind them.

Judy felt herself collapse in her chair, suddenly exhausted from the events of the day. _Interrogating is harder than I thought._ She allowed herself a few minutes to mentally recover and prepare for the next interrogation. She had to be tough on Bruin, but Tony Stripes was a completely different mammal. Based on her interactions with the tiger, she knew he was easy to talk to, and so she guessed tat she would have to adjust her methods accordingly.

She gave a thumbs-up to the space of air behind her. As if on cue, the door opened once again. This time, Tony Stripes walked in, escorted from behind by McHorn.

Stripes recognized Judy immediately. His face brightened up and he smiled in excitement. "Officer Hopps!" McHorn sat him down in the same chair Bruin had occupied, but unlike the polar bear, Stripes was not restrained. McHorn nodded politely to Judy before leaving. "I was hoping you would be the one."

Judy raised an eyebrow. "The one?" she repeated.

"The one to interrogate me. What with our conversation yesterday—"

Judy raised a paw. "This _is_ an interrogation, Tony. I am not your friend. I am an officer of the law, here to ask you a series of questions, which you are to answer as honestly as possible. That is it."

Stripes opened his mouth to protest, but seemed to think better of it, and simply ended with a nod. "I understand, Officer Hopps," he finally said.

Judy smiled. "Good." She raised her pen. "So. Let's start. What is your name and general information?"

"Tony Stripes," was the response. "I'm 27, I live in Sahara Square, and my job is in graphic design."

"Okay, great start," Judy responded encouragingly; even though this had to be professional, she knew the friendlier she was, the more likely Tony would be willing to give her all the information she needed. "Why were you at City Hall yesterday?"

"I was there to watch the inauguration of the new assistant mayor. I honestly expected it to be Nuts Cheeks, personally."

"So were you mad that it wasn't?"

"Not at all. I mean, it was unexpected, sure, but I wasn't _mad_ about it. In fact, I don't remember being mad about much of anything yesterday. I had just gotten a really nice bonus from my paycheck, and—"

A beep over the speakers in the ceiling stopped him mid-sentence. "Hopps," Bogo's agitated voice called, "you are needed outside immediately."

Judy's grip on her pen tightened. "Now, Chief?" she called back. Now was the worst possible time for her to leave the interrogation. She had barely even started; as of now, she hardly knew any more than she had before Stripes had first come in.

"Yes, Hopps. Now." Luckily—or, likely, unluckily—Bogo sounded just as frustrated with it as Judy felt.

Judy set down her pen, gave a reassuring smile to Stripes, and made her way to the door, which Delgato opened when she arrived. It was a quick walk around the corner to the observation area for the interrogation room. The lighting was low so as not to allow the suspects to see past the one-way window, and gathered together were multiple officers, including Bogo, and several city officials.

Bogo himself was joined by a rat, who stood on the table beside him, even so barely coming up to his elbow. The rat was dressed in a suit and had the top of his hair parted in such a way, Judy knew instantly he was a lawyer. She just knew; there was always something about rats in suits and parted hair that screamed "lawyer" to her.

"Officer Hopps," Bogo mumbled, obviously very frustrated, "this is Tim Fields, attorney at law."

Hopps forced a smile and extended her paw. "Officer Judy Hopps, ZPD," she said in cheerful introduction.

Fields barely raised an eyebrow. "I represent Tony Stripes," he stated, getting straight to the point. "Specifically, I represent the company he has signed a contract with—a non-disclosure agreement contract, as a matter of fact." He produced the document from his left breast pocket, unfolded it several dozen times in quick succession, and presented it to Judy, who was shocked at how such a large sheet of paper could fit inside such a small suit. "And it's impenetrable. I know, because I'm the one who wrote it." He walked over to the microphone underneath Bogo's chin, and didn't even bother asking for permission before pressing the button. "Talk and we sue you for everything you own," he called.

Judy looked in the window and saw Stripes jump at the sound of the sudden voice, and then slowly sink into his seat, a look of dread covering his face.

"Legally, now, Mr. Stripes is unable to say anything to the Zootopia Police Department unless ordered to by a federal judge. Current wait time…" Fields looked at his watch. "Eh, about five months. Better get on that, Chief." He patted Bogo's arm, causing a sharp snort from the buffalo, and hopped off the desk.

Judy stared at Fields in disbelief. A single minute earlier, she had been talking with an eager Tony Stripes, who seemed happy to talk—and now he was unable to because of a stupid contract. "What's the contract even for?" she asked.

Fields had already folded it back up and stuffed it back in his suit pocket. "Classified," he replied, continuing to walk out the door.

"Well…" Unable to think of any other way to say it, Judy called after him, "What are we supposed to do with Tony?"

"Not my problem," Fields once again responded. One of the officers opened the door for him and he walked out. "I heard shock collars are the appropriate thing to do for criminal predators these days. You might consider doing that." Then the door closed.

Judy stared at the door for several minutes, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Finally, she turned to Bogo, still having a hard time finding words.

Bogo seemed to have the exact opposite problem; it was all he could do to not let out every word he knew. Finally, he settled on banging his fist on the table, which caused the mic to squeak slightly. He pointed to Fangmeyer. "Take Stripes to Zootopia prison and have him fitted with a shock collar," he grumbled in resignation. Fangmeyer obediently nodded and left the room. Bogo then addressed Judy. "I will get that court order, and I will get it _long_ before five months from now. When I do, I expect you to continue where this left off."

Judy could only nod in silent understanding. She turned back to the window to see Fangmeyer enter the room, help Stripes out of his chair, and escort him out with a head hung low.

She felt her heart drop at the sight. It was a very real possibility Stripes was about to tell her information that would help clear his name—and now he was unable to. "I wish I could do something to help him," she admitted.

She was shocked to see Bogo smile. "That's what I was hoping you would say," he replied. When she looked at him in confusion, he explained, "You think some _lawyer_ is going to stop this investigation? Predators have terrorized Zootopia, Hopps, and that will _not_ go unchecked on my watch." He listed up some papers from the desk, and Judy recognized them as photocopies of her notes from her interrogation with Bruin. "You've already got a solid start, after all."

Judy found herself smiling in return. _The chief is right. There's more to this than just one mammal, and I_ do _have some solid leads._ The thought of doing actual investigation work excited her. When she had become a police officer, _this_ was the kind of work she had looked forward to.

She gave a quick salute. "Yes, sir! I won't let you down!"

Bogo let out a single chuckle as he dropped the papers. "You don't have to be so formal about it," he grumbled. He waved her off. "Get to work. Use any resources you need. Records, the computer system, Clawhauser's donuts hotline—you name it, it's yours."

The last time Bogo had given her a case, he hadn't exactly _given_ it to her. She had volunteered and he had been pressured by Bellwether to let her do it—and then begrudgingly gave her the one-page case file and nothing else. But even then, she had found Nick to help her, and ended up solving the biggest case in the history of Zootopia.

 _So this should be a piece of cake._ Judy once again saluted, before turning and running out the door. Her cubical was just down the hall, on the other side of the lobby, and she was excited to get back and start making some phone calls.

She never made it there, however. As soon as she entered the lobby, a sound filled her ears the likes of which she had never heard before. She turned in the direction of it, and was barely aware of a vehicle speeding past the ZPD entrance, roaring as it went like a lion.

In fact, if she wasn't mistaken, there _was_ a lion driving it, letting out a "Woo Woo!" as he flew past. He had to have been going over a hundred miles an hour—on a street with a speed limit of thirty.

Clawhauser, sitting at his place by the desk, was eating a donut at the time. The sounds and sights had stunned him so much, he stopped mid-bite to stare at the front entrance.

Judy decided her investigation could wait, and began running to the entrance. "Is anyone on that?" she called to Clawhauser.

The cheetah turned to look at her, mouth wrapped around the edge of his donut. He slowly and silently shook his head.

Judy felt her adrenaline rush, her heart beat in her chest, and her smile plaster itself all over her face. She knew her eyes were twinkling in anticipation, and she only took a single second to make sure she had the cruiser keys in one of her belt pouches. She did. "Dibs! I'm on it!" she yelled, running past Clawhauser and towards the ZPD entrance. "Officer Hopps is on the chase!"

Even after she left, door slowly automatically closing behind her, Clawhauser continued to stare at the entrance, stuck in mid-bite.


	8. Chapter 8

Judy ran to the car lot, eyes darting back and forth in search for her cruiser. To her dismay, it was not there; obviously, one of the other cops had used it today for their patrols. So she looked around for her backup, only to find it, too, was missing.

In fact, the more Judy looked at the lot, the more she realized that the only vehicle left was the jokemobile—and there was no way she was going to catch up to the lion with that.

She growled in frustration, tapping her foot on the ground rapidly while she tried to think of what to do next. She didn't allow herself to ponder her options for long; with every passing second, the lion and his vehicle moved that much farther away from her. She crossed her arms, struggling to think of an option other than going back inside and having Clawhauser call it in to the others.

Absently, her eyes flickered to the right. There was one cop car left, parked in the spot reserved for the chief of police.

Before she could talk herself out of it, Judy ran over to it, digging her keys out of her belt pouch as she moved. The thought of her being _so_ , _so_ fired when she got back crossed her mind for a split second, before she dismissed it, threw the door open, and began adjusting the seat to suit her needs.

Within seconds, her seat belt was fastened, the pedals were raised to meet her short legs, and the engine was roaring to life. Judy flicked on the siren and lights, pulled a quick J-turn, and began her pursuit of the lion. She grabbed the radio with one paw and began spewing police jargon into it. "Dispatch, Hopps. 10-80, in pursuit of suspect. Heading south on Grizzle Street." It was about 3:30 in the afternoon, so luckily, the streets were mostly empty.

Clawhauser's voice crackled back a few seconds later. " _Hopps, dispatch. 10-4._ " There was a pause, then he spoke up again. " _Hopps, how did you get a car? I thought the chief assigned all the cop cars to everyone else today._ "

Judy's right hind paw floored the accelerator as far as possible. "That's not really important right now, Clawhauser." She glanced at the speedometer, which held steady at one hundred and five miles per hour. When she looked back up, she saw the lion's car slowly coming back into view. A few cars passed by going the other way, their occupants staring at the chase in curiosity. "Suspect is driving a red Furrari, custom license plate SW0608. Going about one hundred miles—"

Her voice was cut off by a screaming that filled the cruiser. " _Hopps!_ " She winced at Bogo's exclamation, half-wondering if the volume in his voice was caused by just the radio, or if he had somehow yelled loud enough back at the ZPD to be heard all the way out here. " _Did you steal my cruiser?_ "

Judy gritted her teeth, but did not allow Bogo's voice to ruin her concentration. Every passing mile—miles that came and went every forty-five seconds—she closed in on the lion; she was just glad that the street was mostly deserted at this time of day. "I'm sorry, Chief Bogo. This was the only cruiser on the lot, and I didn't have time to ask you for permission before—"

" _That's my car!_ " Bogo retorted. " _I don't care what the reason was, even if there was an active shooting in progress. You do_ not _steal a chief's car!_ "

The lion ahead seemed to see her; his Furrari sped up significantly, and Judy had to slouch in her seat to push the accelerator down a bit more. "Would it help if I said I'm sorry, Chief?" Judy offered, feeling even smaller than usual.

" _Not in the slightest._ " Bogo's voice dropped ever so slightly. " _Clawhauser, call in the other patrols. Tell them all to get back here now_ ," he ordered.

" _Now, Chief? All of them?_ " Clawhauser asked, a bit surprised at the water buffalo's request.

" _Yes! Now, Clawhauser! I want to personally catch up to Hopps and give her a piece of my mind. Give me that car's GPS information so I can—_ "

" _Um…_ " Clawhauser cleared his throat. " _We're on vox, Chief._ "

A short burst of static told Judy that Bogo had turned off the radio on their end. She dreaded what awaited her when she got back to the station—but with the Furrari so close now, she was sure it would all be worth it. She picked back up her radio, switch the station, and called out, "Attention, lion! Pull over immediately!"

Her voice carried through the cruiser's megaphone system. The lion definitely heard her, but did not slow down in the least. Instead, he swerved right suddenly, darting toward the on-ramp to the highway. The swerve was so immediate, Judy barely made the ramp herself, leaving skid marks in her wake. Within seconds, they were on the highway, hogging the left lanes.

The radio burst back to life. Bogo's voice sounded again. He spoke more calmly, but somehow that made him seem all the more angry. " _Hopps, I swear, if you get one scratch on that car—_ "

The Furrari braked suddenly. Judy didn't have time to stop, despite pressing both hind paws on the brake pedal as hard as she could, and rear-ended the Furrari. She grunted as she felt the seat belt pull tight, and her vision blurred for a split second—plenty of time for the lion to take off once again and put a fair amount of distance between them.

Bogo was eerily silent for a few seconds. " _What was that?_ " he inquired.

Judy, not wanting to deal with the chief any longer while she was in such a hot pursuit, pressed the radio as close to her mouth as possible. "Oh, sorry, Chief. I can't hear you. Kkkkkk." She made a crackling sound at the back of her throat, as convincingly as possible. "I'm going through a tunnel. Kkkkkk. Must be bad reception. Kkkkkk. I'll have to call back later."

Bogo snorted. " _Hopps, I'll put you on parking duty for a week! No, a month! No, a year!_ "

The Furrari began darting back and forth between lanes of traffic. This area of the highway was reserved solely for larger vehicles made for the likes of rhinos and elephants. The lion's Furrari and Judy's Bogomobile were practically dwarfed in comparison, and Judy knew at any moment, a single mistake would result in one or both of them getting hit. And at these speeds—the speedometer now read over one hundred and thirty—that would definitely be fatal.

With that in mind, Judy took a moment to gulp, say a prayer asking mercy on her soul for when Bogo was done with her, and turned off the radio. She gripped the wheel with both paws and set her sights straight ahead, unable to afford any distractions, and made sure the Furrari was never far away from her.

Whether the lion was panicking or simply out having a good time, she didn't know—and, really, it didn't matter. All that mattered was now, instead of being out on a joyride, he was endangering himself, her, and many other civilians driving in the vehicles around them. It seemed the dotted lines separating lanes were invisible to him; if a car was in his way, he went around it, forcing Judy to do the same. More than once, the dodges were so close that their tires would screech in protest.

At these speeds, her police siren didn't help whatsoever. By the time upcoming vehicles heard it, they were already a blur through the side windows. Judy had never gone these speeds before; in fact, she had never taken part in a car chase before. All she had to go on were instructions drilled into her head at the police academy.

To help calm her nerves, she started reciting them out loud. "Rule number one, protect the innocent civilians. Never put yourself in a position that will endanger them, even if that means letting the suspect go." The Furrari darted across three lanes of traffic, hugged the right shoulder to avoid a semi-truck, and darted back two lanes. As Judy struggled to keep up, she continued. "Rule number two, seize every opportunity to halt the suspect before he can further endanger the public." The Furrari jerked back to the left lane and accelerated once more. "Rule number three, don't be afraid to rely on backup. Every little bit of help counts."

Judy realized she was, at the moment, actively breaking two of the three rules. She _should_ have just left the lion speed along by himself; this chase was endangering too many other mammals. And she certainly couldn't ask for backup without turning on the radio, and she didn't want to have to deal with Chief Bogo any more than necessary. All that was left was stopping the suspect, and even that was proving difficult. A PIT maneuver at these speeds would almost certainly kill the lion, and possibly force his Furrari to crash into anther vehicle and cause collateral damage to someone else.

All she could do was stay on his tail, as close as possible. So far the chase had lasted a total of only fifteen minutes, but to Judy it felt like fifteen hours. Her heart pounded in her chest, her senses on high alert to help her to be as aware of her surroundings as possible.

She wished she had driven on this highway more in the past. Usually, her patrols in Zootopia were restricted to the area around Precinct 1, which mostly meant Savannah Central and Sahara Square. Sometimes she had to go to other areas of the city, but rarely did that involve using the highway.

In fact, she was a bit surprised when she looked past the Furrari for a split second to see what was coming up next, and was greeted with the sight of Zootopia's Meadowlands skyline coming up quickly.

She felt a slight panic in her stomach. _It's almost four o'clock. Mammals are going to start getting off work. The streets are going to be crowded. If he gets off the highway in the middle of the city, he's going to hurt someone._

Judy figured she had two options: the first was to try and force the lion to stay on the highway, where there would be less cars to worry about—or at least, where there would be cars going closer to their speed. The second option was to try and stop him as quickly as possible, even if that meant putting him, and quite possibly herself, at the risk of getting injured.

The decision was made for itself when the lion took the first Meadowlands exit, still driving at over ninety miles per hour. The exit sign showed that the road led straight into the center of the Meadowlands district, and Judy knew that the Meadowlands' roads were all too narrow for their cars to safely traverse at these speeds.

Judy followed him and glanced ahead. The off-ramp rose into the air and curved to the left, creating a bridge over the highway from which they had just exited. The Furrari was forced to slow down enough to safely make the turn, or else it would risk running into the concrete barrier and possibly fall off the bridge.

Judy's claws dug into the steering wheel. "Okay," she breathed, trying to calm herself. "You're crazy, Hopps. This is crazy." She gulped. "But it just might work."

While the Furrari slowed down to make the turn, Judy sped up. Just before impact, she closed one eye, hoping it wouldn't hurt too much.

The cruiser knocked violently against the back of the Furrari, just off center. Judy could see the lion take a quick glance back at her, shocked by her actions. The Furrari jerked forward due to the added momentum, which caused it to skid across the bridge. Judy quickly switched to the brakes to help distance herself from the out-of-control car, which began spinning in circles as it bounced back and forth between concrete barriers on either side of the bridge, all the while keeping its forward motion going.

It wasn't long before the car was no longer able to stay upright. It balanced dangerously on its left two wheels, still skidding to the side, and then smacked once more into the right barrier. Judy gasped in disbelief as it toppled over the side, and she felt her heart skip a beat when she heard the sickening crash a few seconds later as it hit the highway cement twenty feet below.

Judy parked her cruiser on the bridge, turned off the siren, and opened her door. She quickly ran over to the side of the bridge and looked down. The Furrari was now upside down on the highway below, smoking from the hood. The lion was nowhere to be seen; she could only assume he was trapped inside. She quickly ran back inside the cruiser, flipped on the radio, and shouted into the microphone, "Dispatch, Hopps. 10-52, Zero-Hotel-1, just past Exit 89 at Meadowlands. Repeat, requesting EMT immediately. Make it lion-sized."

It was not long before Clawhauser responded. " _10-4, Hopps. Sending an ambulance immediately._ "

Judy quickly re-exited her cruiser and ran back to the edge of the bridge. By now the traffic behind the car was backed up, but that was the least of her worries. The smoke was getting blacker and blacker, and Judy worried that the gas line had sprung a leak.

She turned to walk down the bridge the same way she had come up, rationalizing it was the fastest and safest way to reach the Furrari. However, she barely took a few steps before an explosion behind her caused her to rethink her decision.

The Furrari had become engulfed in flames. Judy ran back to her original spot on the bridge, squinting into the car to see if she could catch any sight of the lion.

His paw flopped out of the broken driver's window, lifeless.

Judy didn't think twice. She hopped over the edge of the bridge and dropped the twenty feet down to the ground. The jolt in her legs hurt when she landed, but the perfectly-timed roll she executed afterward kept her from receiving any serious injury from the fall. She refused to pause for even a second, letting her adrenaline rush take care of her pain, and immediately ran over to the vehicle.

The fire was mostly contained to the hood area of the car, but she knew it would spread in very little time. She ran to the driver's door and peered inside. The lion had at least done _one_ thing right; he was dangling upside down in his seat, secured safely to his seat belt, unconscious but breathing. However, that seat belt was now a harness that kept Judy from helping him out of the wreck.

The fire was already beginning to spread father back in the car. Judy knew she had mere seconds to make this work. She ignored every instinct in her body begging her to run, and dived head-first through the broken window and into the car.

Already the heat from the flames was overwhelming. Judy began panting almost immediately, since her body was incapable of sweating. The fur on her paws made it difficult to get a solid grip on the seat belt. It didn't matter anyway; she quickly realized that it was jammed. In desperation, she began to bite through the belt with her buck teeth.

Smoke began to fill the interior of the car, and the flames began licking through the floor of the car, almost directly above Judy's head. She forced her ears to lay as flat on her back as possible, but she still had to deal with that pesky seat belt buckle, which was now very close to being engulfed in flames. Judy kept biting into the belt, hoping it would be fast enough to cut through before the fire killed them both.

The flames had reached the dashboard by the time Judy had bitten through the belt. The lion fell out of his seat, landing in a heap on the ceiling. By now, the cabin had completely filled with smoke, and Judy found herself coughing profusely, her body struggling for oxygen. She ignored her aching lungs and pushed against the lion with all her might. Within seconds, she had him through the window of the car. She jumped through herself, ran to the other side of the lion, and dragged him away from the Furrari as quickly as she could.

Even after she was sure they were a safe distance away, she kept dragging him. It was only when she saw a few flames on the lion's mane that she stopped, slapping her paws against the flames as quickly as she could to put them out. When she was sure the mane was no longer a problem, she turned her attention to the rest of the lion. Thankfully, he was dressed in a leather jacket and blue jeans, so the rest of him was free of any other embers.

The adrenaline wearing off, she slowly became aware of how much pain her body was in. Her front paws were burned slightly from the fire in the lion's mane, her hind paws hurt from falling twenty feet and landing on hard cement, her lungs were sore from breathing in so much smoke, and the rest of her body was generally exhausted due to the intensity of the chase.

She collapsed on the lion's shoulder, barely having the strength to stare at the car as it continued to burn. The heat beat against her face, making her eyes water, but she was too weak to care. She was too weak to hear the sirens of approaching emergency vehicles. She was too weak to feel the lion come to underneath her, and too weak to resist when he slowly rose to a standing position, letting her fall flat on the ground.

She was vaguely aware of the lion rubbing his head, looking around in confusion, and looking down at her. He raised an eyebrow and murmured something she couldn't understand. Then he looked over to the car, took a long minute to piece everything together in his mind, and his eyes widened in shock. "Oh my God!" he exclaimed. "Are you okay, Officer Hopps?"

Judy suddenly found herself not so weak. "Am I okay?" she repeated with a croaky voice. She could feel her voice contorting into a scowl as she struggled to a sitting position. "Am I okay?" she repeated. She got to her knees, then finally managed to stand up. She stared at the lion in disbelief. "Am? I? Okay? You led me on a car chase that almost got us killed, fell twenty feet off a bridge, and almost burned alive inside your own Furrari—and you're asking if I am okay?"

The lion raised an eyebrow once again. "I'm sorry, did I miss something, Officer Hopps? I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about." He gestured to his car, which was now little more than a pile of burning metal. "I honestly don't know how I got here."

Judy's eyes widened. "I… You… We…" She growled. "That's it." She reached to her belt. "You're under arrest for…" Her voice faded away as she realized her handcuffs were not on her belt; she must have left them at the ZPD.

The lion, who had seemed genuinely confused this whole time, slowly developed a smile on his face. "Officer Hopps," he commented. "You seem to be in no position to arrest anybody." He stroked his chin. "In fact, it seems like I am the—"

His voice was cut off by the tranquilizer dart that appeared on his arm. A second later, his eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he fell face-first onto the ground, once again unconscious.

The dart did not come from Judy, who quickly turned around to see who had shot it. To her great relief, and her great dismay, Chief Bogo was just lowering his gun and making his way to the two of them.

Bogo walked silently, his face unreadable. Judy didn't dare say anything to him; after all, what was there to say? She had stolen his personal cruiser and damaged it significantly, almost killed herself and the suspect, had headed a dangerous chase through Zootopia, and now there was a car burning to the ground not fifty feet away from where they stood.

All she could do was lower her head in submission, trying to mentally prepare for whatever Bogo might say or do to her.

Bogo walked right past her, toward the burning car. He stopped about halfway there, reached down, and picked something up from the ground. Then he turned back around and approached Judy.

The bunny could barely bring herself to look at him in the eye, expecting him to rage at her and probably fire her on the spot, ready to keep her badge forever. Instead, to her utter surprise, Bogo seemed worried. He looked her up and down, taking in her appearance very slowly. Then he raised his hoof. "This belongs to my best cop."

He lowered his hoof, and Judy saw her badge inside. She didn't even realize it had fallen off her uniform; it must have happened when she was dragging the lion away from the car.

Bogo offered it to her. "I would hate to see her lose this again. She means a lot to me, and to the rest of Zootopia."

Judy couldn't help but sigh in relief. "Thank you, Chief," she responded. She took the badge and affixed it back to her uniform. It was only now that she had a moment to look over herself. Her vest was burned in a few places, a result of it having a lower ignition point than the rest of her clothes. Her left sleeve was torn almost to shreds, and her pants on the left side had several missing patches. On the whole, both her clothes and her fur was covered in smoke, but surprisingly, she didn't have any cuts on her body. At most, she probably had some bruises.

Bogo seemed to come to the same result. "I expect you to be back at the station tomorrow morning, usual time," he said as he knelt down to cuff the lion. "The EMTs are on their way. Let's hand this one over to them and interrogate him tomorrow. I've had enough nonsense for one day."

Judy nodded in agreement. Bogo finished cuffing the lion, brushed his hooves, and began walking to the backed-up traffic. "I'll take care of the ambulance and this traffic jam. You go ahead and drop my car off at a body shop somewhere on your way home. Just text me the address," he called over his shoulder.

The nonchalance in his voice shocked Judy. She had fully expected him to drive his own cruiser home, but now he seemed to fully trust her to take care of it—and he had made it sound like it was no big deal, either, despite the fact that she had just taken it without his permission _and_ had damaged it quite significantly.

 _I guess the chief's always going to be full of surprises_ , she decided. Her limbs automatically walked her to the car on top of the bridge, got her inside, put on the seat belt, and started the engine.

It was only when she absently looked over to the radio that she left her dazed state of mind. It read 5:00. She quickly began driving back to Precinct 1, mentally trying to calculate how much time it would take to get there, put the car in a body shop, get home, and get cleaned up and ready for her date with Nick tonight.

It was only halfway back that she realized she had called it a "date".


	9. Chapter 9

"New collar, Wilde?"

Nick had to keep himself from groaning out loud at the doe's remark. In fact, it was all he could do to calmly fold his menu, set it on the table, and grin in her general direction. "It's called a necklace, sweetheart." He twisted it around his neck so that the box, usually on his right side, was visible to her. "See? This has all my police information stored inside, so if I die in the line of duty, the world will still remember my name. Nicholas Piberius Wilde."

The doe's expression remained dull. "Hip-hip-hooray," she mumbled. "Nick Wilde, hung by his own collar."

Nick sneered. "Always one to cheer me up, aren't you, Deloris?"

Her face unchanged, she held her pad and pen up. "Shall I start you with an appetizer today, or are you just here to admire the scenery?"

Nick raised a paw. "Now, now, Deloris. Don't rush me. I only sat down twenty minutes ago."

"Thirty-six, but who's counting?" Deloris maintained her stance, pen at the ready. "Usually when you come in here, Wilde, you order the pancakes and poached eggs."

"Maybe I'm in the mood for something different today," Nick suggested.

Deloris ignored him. "When the food arrives, you spend ten minutes drowning your pancakes in blueberry syrup before eating them, and only eat one of your eggs." She maintained the exact same expression she had when she first approached his table. "Every single time, Wilde."

Nick fought to keep his signature smile. There were some mammals even _he_ had a hard time putting up with for long periods of time. "In that case, as I see it, I'm doing you a favor this time around." He spread his arms across the table. "As you can see, no syrup-drowned pancakes. No untouched eggs."

"And no order yet," Deloris pointed out, "which means no tip for me." She tapped the back of her pen against the notepad once, then a second time several moments later. "Do you need time to continue looking over your menu, sir?"

Nick finally lost his smile; the word "sir" had done him in. Deloris had called him, Nick Wilde, by a well-respecting honorable name. He wouldn't stand for that. He calmly collected his menu, and opened his mouth to begin a joke. "Actually, I _was_ going to ask you to just give me the whole left side of this thing, but—"

"Coming right up." Before Nick could react, Deloris reached over, grabbed his menu, and began walking back to the kitchen. Even as she left, he remained transfixed in his seat, wondering how a doe with her personality could move so fast.

It was only when he realized that he had, in fact, ordered the entire left side of the menu, that he was able to formulate words. "Oh, dear," he murmured.

"Ha, ha," Deloris mocked. "It's funny because I'm a deer." Her monotonic voice was then, to Nick's relief, cut off by the sound of the kitchen door closing behind her.

Nick forced himself to forget about Deloris—and the unfortunate bill from the food he had just ordered—and took out his phone to once again check the time. _7:22_. He shifted his weight on the cushion of the booth he was sitting in. _How late is considered too late? Do I call her? Do I text her? Is that considered rude?_

He fidgeted, unsure of what exactly to do. Normally, in situations where he was clueless, Nick could at least pretend he knew what he was doing. But this was such a new experience for him. Nick had been on dates before, but they were always with foxes. This time, the date was with a rabbit—and it was hard for Nick to accept that it really _was_ a date.

This whole day had been a whirlwind of new emotions for him. First he was given this stupid shock collar, which he absently twisted on his neck back to its original position to make it more comfortable. He was going to be stuck with this for the rest of his life, and the more he thought about it, the less he liked it. Sure, he could have just left it on his desk at the ZPD and walked out the door, but Judy had touched his arm, and…

 _That bunny is doing things to me._ Nick looked at his phone again. It now read 7:23. _Never let them see that they get to you, huh, Wilde? You haven't kept that rule_ once _since you met her._ After his conversation with Dr. Wood, Nick was slowly beginning to accept that he had feelings for Judy. The full extent of those feelings, however, he wasn't quite sure. He had slipped enough when meeting the psychiatrist—the kind of mammal he _should_ have hidden his feelings from the easiest. And if it was possible for Dr. Wood to see that he cared about Judy as more than a friend, it made Nick wonder what Judy herself saw.

That thought scared him. These feelings were still so new to him—and he still didn't know _exactly_ what he felt—that he was worried he might push Judy away if she found out about them. As much as it would pain him to lose any possibility of the two of them ending up together, it pained him more to consider the thought of losing her even as a friend.

His grip on his phone tightened. _Calm down, Wilde._ He took a deep breath. _Just take this slowly. Figure it out for yourself first, then figure out the rest later._ He closed his eyes, grip tightening all the more. _So you have feelings for the rabbit. So what? Big deal. You're still Slick Nick. You're a fox. You're sly. You're in control. You're prepared for anything._

"Nick?"

The sudden voice caused Nick to yelp and jump in his seat. The phone left his grip and went flying out of his paws, landing hard against the table. The abruptness of his reaction caused Judy, who had just arrived, to flinch, taking a step back and standing on her tiptoes.

After a few seconds of them staring at each other in awkward silence, Judy slowly asked, "Nick, are you okay?"

Nick took some time to gather himself. He forced a wide smile. "Oh, me? Yes. I'm okay. I'm fine, as a matter of fact. Never better. Why do you ask?" He stumbled through his words—and even as he did, he knew how horrible it all sounded. After another awkward few seconds of silence, he grabbed his phone, pocketed it, and motioned to the booth opposite him. "Would you like a seat, Carrots?"

Judy glanced at it cautiously. "I'm not sure," she replied, quite honestly.

Nick quickly jumped up, mentally kicking himself for not doing so earlier. "Oh, where are my manners?" He stood beside the opposite booth and held a paw out for Judy to take hold. "Please be seated, Officer Hopps," he finally said with his normal suave tone.

Even though she still seemed unsure of how to proceed, Judy took Nick's paw, smiled, and sank into the booth. Nick had specifically requested a booth in the restaurant with one seat higher than the other, so there wouldn't be a height discrepancy between the two of them. Once she was seated, he reseated himself and began to relax.

The first thing he noticed was Judy's outfit. When he had texted her the name of the restaurant, Pigs in a Blanket, he had assumed she would Zoogle the place and find out it was just a twenty-four-hour diner. Nothing special, certainly nothing dress-up-worthy. Judy seemed to have gotten the memo; she wore a three-quarter-sleeve pink shirt that was complimented by khaki pants.

Even so, to Nick, she stood out as the best part of the diner. He was sure, if he allowed himself, he could stare at her for hours.

 _Don't rush it, Wilde_ , he reminded himself. _This is just a casual date. Nothing serious. She probably doesn't even know this_ is _a date._

"So…" Judy cleared her throat, obviously trying to break the silence. "Is this a date?"

 _Crap_. Nick feigned ignorance and fluttered a paw in the air absently. "It's as much of a date as you want it to be, Carrots. I just arranged it. You take it however you wish."

"Well," Judy said after a pause, "I've never been on a date before, but how is this any different than what friends do? I mean, you and I have had lunch together plenty of times during work."

This didn't really surprise Nick. Judy had spent her whole life working toward being a cop. Any spare time she might have had for boyfriends had been replaced by more time jogging a marathon or absorbing an encyclopedia of police material. "Well, there's not much to it." Nick spread his arms out on either side of the booth, making himself comfortable. "We just sit here and talk and eat, for the most part."

Deloris appeared by the booth, balancing a tray full of dishes. "Here's the vegetable lasagna and the toast, Wilde." She set them down on the table. "The pancakes are on their way."

Nick barely glanced at her. "Thanks, Deloris." He turned his attention back to Judy. "We can talk about my day—and I _did_ have some interesting things happen—"

"How will you like your eggs?" Deloris asked tucking her tray underneath her shoulder.

Nick groaned. "Uh… Over-easy." He tried again. "Or we can talk about _your_ day, and I'd love—"

"Will you want white or brown rice?"

"White, I guess!" Nick snapped. "I'd love to hear all about it, even—"

"Pred-friendly flies on your burritos, or beans?"

Nick turned to her, fed up. "Look, surprise me!" he begged. Satisfied, Deloris turned and went back to the kitchen.

Judy blinked, confused at the exchange. "Wow, Nick. What happened? Did you order the whole left side of the menu?" she joked.

 _If only she knew._ Deciding it would be for the better if she didn't, Nick instead suggested, "How about you tell me something about your day, and then I tell you something about mine?"

"You mean, we go back and forth?" Judy asked, making sure she understood correctly.

Nick nodded. "Yes, back and forth." He smiled, this time genuinely. "Please, ladies first."

Judy took a nervous breath. "Okay," she began. "Let's see. I don't know where to begin." She paused for a second, thinking. "How about I tell the story of why I was so late?" she asked.

"Sure, start with that," Nick encouraged.

Judy took a deep breath, then began. "Well, I was about to start on this big new case that Chief Bogo gave me, but when I was walking over to my desk, a Furrari just _blew_ past the ZPD, and I decided to chase it, but when I reached the parking lot I saw all the police cruisers were gone except Chief Bogo's, so I ended up taking that, and let me tell you, he did _not_ like that one bit, but it didn't matter because I caught the guy at the end, and Bogo ended up being okay with it all, but I'm getting ahead of myself, because that wasn't until after a long chase that went all the way to the Meadowlands District…"

Somehow, during her story, Judy didn't take a single breath. She rushed through, trying to explain every detail as it popped into her mind, but also trying to make sure she didn't leave a single thing out. All the while, Nick listened intently, barely noticing her lack of punctuation, and only vaguely surprised by how many words could fit into one tiny bunny breath.

Nick nodded silently. The whole story was pretty intense, and Judy's descriptions of the chase, and the twenty-foot jump, and the burning car, and all the other dangerous things _did_ make him a little bit nervous. However, it was obvious she was okay now, so he allowed for her to keep talking, never once stopping her.

After no time at all, Judy finished her story. "So I finally got home, showered, and ran over here as fast as I could." Her tale complete, Judy took a breath and leaned back in her cushion in relief. "And I hope I never have to do anything like that ever again."

Nick had happily listened the whole time, happy to hear Judy talk about something that excited her so much. In fact, he hadn't said a single word the whole time. Judy just now seemed to realize this. Her face flushed the tiniest hint of red, and her ears drooped. "I've been rambling, haven't I?" she whimpered as she sank in her cushion a little more.

"No, not at all!" Nick assured her.

"I have," Judy retorted.

Nick gave her his signature half-lidded grin. "Carrots, if you were truly rambling, I would have called the waitress over and ordered my food to-go."

"You want it to-go, Wilde?" The voice tore into Nick's ears like nails on a chalkboard. He slowly turned to see Deloris bringing a new round of food to the table, this time including fresh tortillas, beans, scrambled eggs, and cheese for the burritos.

"No. Thank. You. Deloris," Nick responded, forcing himself to keep his expression straight.

As Deloris delivered the food, she asked, "What vegetables do you want for meals number six and seven?"

Nick groaned, struggling to not literally bark at her. "I'll have mashed potatoes," he calmly replied, "and green beans."

Judy tried to make the situation better. "So, Nick," she asked, "how was _your_ day? You saw Dr. Wood, right?"

"Yes, Carrots," Nick replied, glad to stop dealing with Deloris. "And it was—"

"You can only pick two," Deloris responded.

Nick blinked. "What?"

"Vegetables."

"Mashed potatoes and green beans," Nick repeated through gritted teeth. "And Carrots, it was—"

"Do you want carrots?"

"Not carrots, Deloris. Carrots."

"What?" Judy replied.

Nick, finally unable to keep his cool any longer, held up his paw. "Just one second." He turned to the doe, leaned forward in his seat, and glared at her. "Am I your _only_ customer today, Deloris?"

For the first time that night—actually, since he had known her—the deer gave him the slightest hint of a smirk. "No, but you're my favorite," she replied, before finally turning around and leaving them alone.

The exchange left Nick perplexed, and for the second time today, he found himself with his jaw dropped, unable to articulate words.

Judy, not quite knowing how to respond to the whole thing, decided to slide a plate of pancakes over to her side of the table. She leaned to the far end of the table, grabbed the blueberry syrup bottle, and poured it onto the whole stack. "So, Dr. Wood?" she inquired.

Nick figured it was time to dig into the food himself, and quickly made himself a burrito. "Well, he's fine, I guess," he started. "Our talk went fine, even if he _did_ trick me into telling him my true feelings about things."

"That's kind of the point of talking with a psychiatrist, isn't it?" Judy asked.

"Yeah, but that's not how I work. I don't tell people how I really feel." Nick bit off the top of his burrito and chewed it quickly, barely taking the time to taste how good it actually was. "I wanted to just go in there, pretend to be someone else for an hour, and leave with all my private details kept to myself." He bit off another chunk. "I was suckered, though. I think the only thing he doesn't know about me now is the password to my zmail."

Judy started eating some of the vegetables. "What did he say about the shock collar?"

Nick finished the burrito before replying. "Not much. He started quoting a philosopher and…" He paused. "You're not related to a Thomas Hopps, are you?"

Judy thought for a second. "No, not that I know of. Why? Who is he?"

"Never mind," Nick responded; the less he thought of his meeting with Dr. Wood, the happier he would feel. "Long story short, he gave me a complete psychological pass, and I seem to be taking this thing well." He scratched underneath the collar. "I have actually forgotten I was even wearing it during parts of today."

Judy took a bite out of a corn-on-the-cob. "I wish I could forget about them so easily," she admitted. "Actually, I'm shocked you have." Her paws flew to her mouth, but the word was already out.

Nick, unaffected by her poor word choice, couldn't help but chuckle. "You're so cute when you're embarrassed," he teased, twirling a fork in her direction.

Judy kept her paws on her mouth but narrowed her eyes at Nick's mention of her being "cute". She took a moment to recover, before calmly closing her eyes and lowering her paws. "I'm sorry, that was a poor choice of words."

Nick stabbed some fries with his fork and tossed them in his mouth. "Eh, I'm over it," he shrugged.

"You are, but yours doesn't work. I had to deal with _three_ today that do." The news caught Nick off-guard, and he almost dropped his fork. "The polar bear and the tiger that I took into custody, and the lion in the Furrari. All three of them have shock collars now, Nick. None of _them_ had a say. All _theirs_ work." Her ears lowered. "And it's all my fault."

Nick took a hard gulp as he thought about what to say in response. The thought of how the collars would affect other predators did cross his mind several times today, but he had assumed it would happen in the long term. Definitely not right now—definitely not on Judy's watch, with him not there beside her.

 _Three. All in one day._ He took a deep breath as he contemplated it. _All within the_ first _day. And knowing how hard Rolfe is pushing this, all the predators with criminal records will be given shock collars within a week or two. Then the preds_ without _records… This is going too fast._

His thoughts were interrupted by the realization that Judy was staring at her carrot soup, not moving. "It's all my fault," she repeated.

The other predators no longer his immediate problem, Nick reached over the newly-arrived bowl of yogurt and grabbed Judy's paws in his. Without a second thought, he let the words flow freely. "Listen to me, Carrots," he told her, looking her in the eyes. "None of this is your fault." He craned his neck, indicating the shock collar on his neck. " _This_ is not your fault. This is something that we will work on fixing, right? We saved Zootopia together, and we can get rid of these together, too."

Hearing Nick's words seemed to help, at least a little. Judy's ears perked a tiny bit, and she forced a smile and nodded. "Right, together," she agreed. "Chief Bogo already gave me access to everything for the predator cases. We'll start on those first thing tomorrow."

Nick squeezed her paws. "Sounds like a plan to me." He let go, leaned back in his cushion, and indulged in a bowl of blueberries that had recently appeared at the table. "So, what else happened today?"

Judy took a few sips from her carrot soup. "Well, I interrogated the polar bear and tiger. The polar bear works for a trash company. He insisted he didn't remember anything, and the way he acted, he was pretty convincing."

"Sounds pretty convenient if you ask me," Nick remarked.

"I'm telling you, Nick. He went berserk." Judy grabbed a banana from the center of the table and began to peel it. "I saw the look in his eyes. It wasn't a mammal who had done something wrong and wanted to get out of it. It was a mammal who was scared…" She stopped mid-peel. "And then I made the call to give him a shock collar…" Her voice faded.

Hoping to get her mind off the event, Nick quickly asked, "And what about the tiger?"

Judy slowly finished peeling her banana and took a bite. "The tiger was going to talk, but then a lawyer came and stopped him."

Nick snorted. "What a rat," he mumbled.

"Hey!" came a small voice from a table near them.

Nick froze, unaware that the rodent family had heard him. He quickly put on his sly smile and waved. "Yes, _that_ Nick Wilde! It's a pleasure!" He turned back to Judy. "We get recognized in the most interesting places, huh, Carrots?"

Judy's resulting look caused him to slowly lose his smile and go back to his blueberries. "Anyway," she continued, finishing her banana, "the tiger signed a non-disclosure agreement, and he can't tell anything to us unless a judge issues a court order. Chief Bogo is working on that, but until he gets it, we have to keep working for ourselves."

Nick smiled. "All right. Anything to get out of another meeting with the good doctor."

Deloris appeared by their side, checkbook in hoof. "Whenever you can, Wilde. My shift ends in three hours. Maybe you'll have this all boxed by then."

Nick sighed, before forcing himself to turn to the doe. "Thank you, Deloris," he grinned. "I'll make sure your tip is appropriate."

"If you have any money left in your wallet for one," Deloris replied, before she left to fetch the boxes.

Judy looked around the table, eyeing the mixture of plates and bowls, some empty but most still full of food. "So," she asked, "is this what a date is like?"

"Some of them. Sometimes dates involve going to the movies. Or going for long romantic walks on the beach."

Judy's ears perked. "'Romantic'?" she repeated. She smiled mischievously. "Ah, so this _is_ a date after all?"

Nick blinked, then quickly retorted, "I was only describing what a date _could_ be."

Judy rolled her eyes. "Nick, this is a date." Before Nick could respond, she continued, "Don't be coy about it. We're both adults here. There's nothing wrong with two friends going on a casual date together."

Nick distracted himself by opening the checkbook, and found himself alarmed at the total listed at the bottom of the receipt. He quickly closed it, hoping it would magically disappear, and returned his attention to Judy. "Yeah, if you're into that kind of thing," he responded, trying to play Judy's statement off like it was no big deal.

"I've never been to the beach before," Judy replied. There was a sparkle in her eyes that Nick had never seen before. _Is that…longing? Is she actually_ longing _for something?_

Nick chuckled. "Well, the Canal District has some nice beaches. We can go there for our second date, if you want."

Judy blinked. "S-second date?" she stammered. Her insistence just a few seconds ago that there was nothing wrong with casual dating seemed to have completely disappeared in her surprise.

The lump in Nick's throat told him he had said too much. "I mean…" Usually a professional with words, the fox now found himself struggling to find them. "It doesn't _have_ to be a date. We could go to the Canal District and pretend we're working on the case or something. Or I could give you the directions and you can go there by yourself if you—"

"Nick," Judy interrupted, stopping him. After a pause, she smiled warmly. "A second date sounds nice," she finally said.

Relieved by her words, Nick smiled back. "Good!" he squeaked. He quickly cleared his throat and tried again. "I mean, good. How about next Friday? We both have the day off, we can make a trip out of it."

Judy nodded. "Friday it is," she agreed. Almost as soon as she answered, however, her left ear began to droop, ever so slightly. "So, does this mean we're dating, or…?"

It was a question Nick had hoped wouldn't come up. If he were to be honest with himself, he had thoroughly enjoyed his evening with Judy. There was something about the two of them being able to meet outside of work and enjoy each other's company that made him feel warm inside. He had never experienced this feeling with anyone else, and it was one he definitely wanted to keep feeling—especially with Judy.

But on the other hand, he knew he couldn't allow himself to get his hopes up too high. He was still working out exactly what he felt about the whole thing. _Do I really want us to be more than just friends? And if so, is this how our relationship would start—with me snapping at the waitress and Judy in despair over shock collars?_

He was surprised when his initial answer was, _Sure, why not?_ He had to calm his thoughts and think through it logically. _Wilde, she's a bunny. You're a fox. That alone should be enough to keep this from ever happening—from even being possible. You're lucky she's your friend at all._

The events from the past few days played themselves over in Nick's mind. Judy crying on his shoulder, sharing her nightmare of him attacking her; dealing with the tiger and meeting Rolfe afterward; the shock collars this morning; and his talk with Dr. Wood. The whole situation unnerved him, and he was sure there was more to it all…

But for now, he didn't care about any of that. They all helped him to come to one conclusion: He wanted to be close to Judy right now, and help to keep her safe from whatever the world would throw at her.

For a split second, he closed his eyes. To Judy, it simply looked like a long blink, but during that time, Nick weighed his options. He quickly came to the conclusion that he only had two options: Either he could tell Judy that yes, they were dating now, as long as she was okay with the prospect, or that they were going to simply remain friends.

 _If I tell her my true feelings now, I might push her away forever_ , he finally decided. _Best to take it slow. Besides, friends can go on dates as just friends, right? She said so herself._ He thought it over a second. _I'll look it up on Zoogle later._

He opened his eyes and put on his signature half-lidded smile. "Nah," he replied. "Just the two of us, going as friends. Nothing more."

It was impossible to read Judy's response. Nick at least expected either a sigh of relief, or a tinge of disappointment—some sort of indication one way or the other. Instead, the bunny simply smiled and nodded. "Then I'm looking forward to it!" she replied.

"Same here. Make sure to bring a swimsuit so we can wade in the water. And sunscreen. Wait, do bunnies get sunburned?" Judy nodded her head. "Okay, bring sunscreen. Actually, I'll bring the sunscreen. Don't worry about that. Actually, don't worry about any of this right now. We'll talk about it closer to when we're about to…" Nick stopped talking, noticing something for the first time all evening. "Carrots," he pointed out, "you haven't even touched your pancakes."

The entire plate, by now, was soaked in blueberry syrup. The pancakes were absorbing it so much, they were practically melting under the sheer amount of it all.

Judy glanced down at the plate. "Oh, yeah," she remarked, as if it was nothing out of the ordinary for her. "That's how I like them." She raised an eyebrow. "Why? Is there something wrong with that?"

"No, not at all," Nick quickly responded. He slowly sat back in his cushion and eyed his receipt, wondering if there was any way to get rid of one of the extra digits in the amount due. _That's how I like mine, too_ , he added silently.


	10. Chapter 10

Judy had a difficult time opening her door. In her left paw she held four bags of leftovers from her date with Nick, and in her right were another three. Actually, she considered herself lucky; Nick had over a dozen bags of his own he had to lug back to his place.

 _At least I have a fridge to put these in_. She finally managed to open her door without having to set down any bags, and made her way inside. The clock at the far end of the room read 9:35, and a part of her regretted staying out so late with her alarm set to go off at 5:00 the next morning.

But it was worth it to spend an evening with Nick. She pondered the evening as she put the boxes of food in her mini refrigerator. She thought about Nick's uncharacteristic nervousness as she tried to find a place for the oatmeal box. Even though Nick usually hid his emotions behind a mask, he had shown his true self to her enough times to know he _wasn't_ the nervous type. She didn't know if she had ever seen him nervous at all, let alone the levels he had shown this evening.

 _Maybe he's worried about being seen in public with the shock collar_ , she reasoned, shoving the blueberry muffins to the back. _Or maybe he didn't like the waitress all that much; they_ did _bicker quite a bit._

Her paw paused above the remaining boxes as another, much more plausible thought entered her mind. _Or maybe he really did want for us to start dating._

Her final question to him had been said almost as a joke. She didn't really believe he would say yes. And he didn't. This was a one-time thing. A casual date between two friends. And it _was_ a nice first date—for her at all, and for her and Nick. They had dinner together, just the two of them, and talked about stuff for over an hour and a half. They even put their phones away the whole time—

"Phone!" Judy hurriedly put away the rest of the boxes, somehow finding room in her refrigerator to hold it all, and ran over to her desk. She flicked on the lamp light, pulled out her phone, and typed in her password as fast as the screen would allow.

She gritted her teeth at the notification that she had missed seven calls in the past hour, all from the same phone number. _Wednesday night._ She hit the "Call Back" button and watched the phone give a visual indication that the call was starting. _Of_ course _it's Wednesday night. I can't believe I forgot this…_

There was a single ring before the video started. Judy forced a smile as the phone lit up with the faces of Bonnie and Stu. "Hey, guys!" she tried.

Neither of them were smiling back. "Judy, do you know what time it is?" Stu asked sternly.

Not waiting for her to answer, Bonnie said, "It's Wednesday night. You promised us you'd call every Wednesday night at exactly 8 o'clock."

"I know, I'm sorry," Judy started.

"So that we would know you were okay," Stu continued, not letting her finish. Bonnie was the one holding the phone; Stu was too busy having his paws on his hips, tapping a foot feverishly. "You have never missed this before."

"We were worried about you," Bonnie chimed in, her voice a little less stern than Stu's. "Especially after we called you so many times."

"Yeah, I'm sorry," Judy started. "I was busy and lost track of time, and I—"

"Wait a minute…" Stu's face filled the screen as he leaned closer to the camera. "Judy… Is that smoke?"

Judy started and whirled around. "Where?" Her eyes darted across the room, trying to find the smoke her father might be talking about; the last thing she wanted was a fire in her apartment.

"It _is_!" Stu started rubbing Bonnie's shoulder uncontrollably. "Judy's been in a fire!"

Judy kept looking around, not sure what he was talking about. "I don't see any…" Her voice dropped as she realized what he was talking about. She reached behind her ear and rubbed her fur a tiny bit, before looking at her paw. Sure enough, there was traces of smoke, darkening her pink paw pads.

 _I really hope Nick didn't see that._ After she had come back to her apartment, she had been in such a rush that she didn't have time to take a shower. She instead had wiped down her fur in a wet washcloth as quickly as possible. She had _claimed_ that she had showered to Nick, but she was too embarrassed to tell him the truth.

Obviously she had missed at least one small part of her fur, tucked behind her ear. Somehow her father had seen it on a small phone screen from hundreds of miles away. Either Nick was blind as a bat, or he was too polite to bring it up.

Bonnie and Stu were freaking out on the other end. "What happened, Judy?" Bonnie called. "Are you okay?"

"Were you trapped in a building?" Stu exclaimed. "Is that why you didn't call? Were you unconscious?" He gasped in terror. "You didn't try and save a little girl like that one guy in Spider-Mammal 2, did you?"

Judy rolled her eyes. "Dad—"

"You're not a superhero, Judy!" Stu interjected. Bonnie tried to push him back, murmuring his name once or twice, but he grabbed at the phone and kept talking. "You're not Spider-Mammal! You're just a small bunny."

"Dad—"

"How hurt are you, Judy? Do we need—not now, Bonn. Do we need to come see you? We can be there in less than an hour if we take the express train. When does that leave, Bonn?"

Judy growled. "Dad!" she yelled, finally silencing him. "I'm okay." She circled the phone around her, showing off her arms, torso, legs, and the back of her head. "See? No burns. I'm fine."

Either Judy's insistence was enough to convince Stu to drop the subject, or the fact that Bonnie snatched up the phone and pushed him away. "Please excuse your father, Judy," she said apologetically. Stu began speaking in the background, but Bonnie shot him a look and he finally quieted down. "He's just concerned for you. We both are. We've heard about the predator attacks on the news and…" She paused, knowing that Judy would finish the thought herself.

Judy could certainly appreciate her parents' worry, especially after she had already gotten injured during the night howler case a year prior, but she did not want to think any further about the current predator problem. Trying to change the subject, she forced a smile and asked, "So, how's everything going back at home?"

Bonnie seemed to welcome the topic change. "Well, let's see." A smile appeared on her face. "Cotton brought home a report card today and she's gotten all As again. You've really inspired her to do her best."

Judy's smile transitioned from forced to genuine. Cotton, her favorite niece, had recently started going to school, and after hearing Judy talk about her job over their last get-together, she had decided that she, too, wanted to be a police officer when she grew up. "Well, be sure to tell her I'm proud of her, then," she replied.

Stu appeared back in frame, this time ready to talk about things on a more calm level. "Oh, Charlie and Graham got the old mower working again. You remember the alternator belt was broken?"

Judy nodded. "Yeah, that's going to help speed up harvest quite a bit this year."

Bonnie's ears perked. "Your big sister Isabelle just got engaged to that nice buck from down the road. What's his name, again?"

Stu's expression turned stern. "Roger." The faintest smirk appeared on his face. "I gave him my blessing to propose, but I also said whatever he did to her, I'd do to him." There was a not-so-subtle glow in his eyes, even visible to Judy on the phone screen. "Boy, I'll tell you, the look on his face…"

Hoping to once again change the subject—quickly—Bonnie spoke back up. "So, how was your day, Judy? Anything interesting going on that you can talk about?"

Judy contemplated for a minute about what she wanted to talk about. Her day had definitely been chock full of interesting things, but they weren't things she particularly wanted to talk about. She didn't want to tell her parents she had been in a chase that almost turned deadly, and in the case of her interrogations, she didn't even think she was allowed to talk about it, since they were technically part of an open case.

That only left her date with Nick. The very thought of telling her parents about it flooded her mind with images of her father tasing Nick, so she immediately dismissed it.

But her mother, as all-knowing as ever, saw the moment of hesitation in her eyes. "What is it, Judy?"

Judy shook her head. "Nothing, Mom. You wouldn't want to hear it."

Stu's face filled the screen again. "Wouldn't want to hear _what_ , Judy?" It was a demand, not a request.

Even so, Judy fought it for a moment. "It's no big deal. I just…" She sighed, knowing her parents would pester her until she gave in anyway. "I went on a date tonight, that's all," she mumbled, hoping it wouldn't go through.

Her parents heard her loud and clear, and their eyes widened in shock. "A date?" they exclaimed in unison.

Judy sheepishly nodded. "That's why I was so late calling you two."

After a few seconds of shocked silence, Bonnie cleared her throat and asked, "Well, who is it?"

Judy slumped in her chair, and she felt her ears droop far down her back. She didn't understand why she was suddenly so embarrassed about it—especially after she had been so casual with Nick during their date. For some reason, talking to her parents about dinner with Nick was harder for her than it was to insist with Nick that it was okay to call it a "date" at all.

In fact, as she thought about it, she figured talking to _anyone_ about the date was embarrassing. Anyone except Nick himself.

 _Why is Nick so different? What is it that makes him so different to me?_ Her mind wandered on the thought. _He's just a fox, after all. Foxes and bunnies are natural enemies, so why am I so at ease with him? Why do I feel so_ connected _with him?_

 _…And why can't I stop thinking about him?_

"Judy?"

Bonnie's voice snapped Judy's mind back to the present. Bonnie and Stu were both looking at the phone, as if her next words would determine the course of the future itself.

Once again knowing they would never stop pestering her otherwise, Judy sighed in defeat and admitted, "I went on a date with Nick."

There was a painful moment of silence on the other end, and Judy prayed it was just lag from the phone call. "Nick? Your partner, Nick?" Bonnie finally asked.

 _Yes, my partner, Nick. My best friend, Nick. My fox, Nick. I went on a date with Nick._ For some reason, it made her feel happy when she said it to herself—but she didn't dare say any of that out loud to her parents. All she could bring herself to do was simply nod.

To her utter surprise, her father smiled. "Oh, okay. Your partner on the police force, right?"

Confused as to how he could be so casual about the idea of her having gone on a date with a _fox_ , Judy slowly nodded. "Yeah, Nick Wilde. He's been my partner ever since he joined the force."

"We know, Judy," Bonnie replied. Both of her parents had contented smiles on their faces. "You've told us all about him."

"Yeah, he seems like a pleasant fellow to work with," Stu pitched in.

Judy blinked, still confused as ever. "So…" She cleared her throat and asked for clarification, "You're not mad?"

"Mad?" Stu blew his lips. "Jude, you're an adult. It's not like we could stop you anyway."

"And if you're dating someone on the work force," Bonnie added, "then that's perfectly fine with us. Especially if it's your partner."

"Absolutely." Stu nodded his head. "It's better than dating that Roger kid Isabelle got engaged to." He smirked, a joke popping in his mind. "But then again, _anything's_ better than dating a predator. I'm just glad you're not doing that."

Judy felt her heart stop. "Oh…" She opened her mouth to clarify, but no words came out. The realization that her parents had no idea that Nick was a predator—much less a _fox_ —was just too much for her mind to fully process. Even though they had become good friends with Gideon Grey, she was sure they would not be so welcoming of the idea of her potentially dating—

"Look at her, she's so surprised," Stu exclaimed, smiling in amusement.

Bonnie chuckled. "As if we'd be so offended by her dating a raccoon." She spoke back up. "Well, it's late where you are, Judy. Get some sleep."

"We'll talk to you next Wednesday." Stu winked and gave her a thumbs-up. "Don't get too busy with Mr. Wilde next time to skip it, okay?'

Judy's mouth was too dry to articulate words. A noise emerged from her dropped jaw that could have sounded like, "Uh-huh."

Bonnie waved. "See you then, Judy! Good night!"

"Later, Jude the Dude!" Stu added, before pushing the screen on their end. The video paused on their faces for a second, before it faded to black, leaving Judy staring at her own stunned reflection in silence.

Judy dropped the phone on the desk, her fingers having gone numb. For the next several seconds—actually, it could have been hours for all she knew—she was unable to come up with any comprehensible thoughts. Her mind had slowed down to a crawl, leaving her scared at the thought of her parents finding out Nick was actually a fox. She came up with all sorts of scenarios—all of them ending in Nick lying down on the ground in a smoking heap, with her father standing on top of him like he was a trophy, blowing the top of his taser like it was an Old West gun.

She was only able to snap out of it when she heard a muffled voice coming from the wall behind her. "They don't know he's a fox, do they?"

Judy groaned. As usual, Bucky and Pronk had heard the whole conversation. She sat up in the chair and rubbed the space between her eyes. "No, they don't," she whispered.

Pronk responded this time, his voice just as muffled as Bucky's. "So, you're dating him now?"

Judy quickly turned to the wall. "No!" She immediately felt silly, yelling at the wall and not to the two bucks behind it, and quickly cleared her throat. "I mean…" She spoke more calmly. "No, we're not dating. We just went on a date."

"Oh, giving it a trial run," Pronk guessed. "Smart move."

Judy rolled her eyes, ready for the day to finally be over. She stood up and got to work setting her alarm for the next morning and changing into her pajamas.

"So, how did the date go?" Bucky inquired. When Judy refused to reply, he asked, "Did you kiss him, at least?"

"Hey, you don't _have_ to kiss someone on the first date," Pronk retorted.

"Yes you do," Bucky insisted. "Do you know what year we live in?"

"What if she didn't _want_ to kiss him? Have you seen how many teeth foxes have?"

"Well, maybe foxes have bad breath or something."

"How do _you_ know what kind of breath foxes have? Have you been kissing foxes?"

"Oh, shut up."

"No, you shut up."

"No, _you_ shut up!"

"Oh, just _shut up!_ "

Judy grabbed her toothbrush, walked to the bathroom, and firmly closed the door behind her. Usually that was her cue for the two to _really_ shut up, and tonight was no exception. Within seconds, the only sounds that filled her ears were the bristles brushing across her teeth.

 _It was just a date_ , she told herself over and over, in rhythm with her brush strokes. _Just a date. Just a date. Just a date._ She spat into the sink and went back to brushing. _Nick is my best friend. Nothing more. He probably wouldn't want to date me anyway. What would he want with a bunny? There are plenty of perfectly good vixens in Zootopia. I'm no more to him than just a work force partner and someone to spend extra time with._

Even as she talked to herself, her brush strokes slowed. Images swam through her head of how obviously uncomfortable and nervous he was throughout the whole evening. In particular, how long he pondered on her final question to him: were they actually dating?

He had wanted to say yes. She could see that. And when he didn't, she had expected to feel relief; the thought of committing to a relationship, especially with Nick, was just too much for her to consider at the moment with how much being a cop was a part of her life. She just didn't have _time_ for a relationship. She never had in her life before, and she felt she wouldn't now, either.

And yet…

Judy's paw fell from her mouth. She stared at herself in the mirror for several moments, her thoughtful amethyst eyes staring back at her. A quick grin revealed that her teeth were not going to get any whiter; apparently she had been here longer than she thought.

She spat out, guzzled some mouthwash, and left the bathroom. If she had to be honest with herself, instead of relief, she had felt disappointment. She found it hard to believe, but deep down, she did, indeed, want to be in a relationship with Nick.

She shook her head at the thought. _What's wrong with me?_ She stored her toothbrush, flicked off the apartment's lights, and slid into bed. _I mean, sure, I like Nick. But I like him as a friend. I'm a bunny. He's a fox. What would my parents think?_ That thought alone made her heart sink once more, and she decided not to think about that particular one any further.

Suddenly, she felt exhausted, and it dawned on her for the first time just how tiring her day had been. She closed her eyes, welcoming the sleep that awaited her.

Still, she couldn't help but think one last thing as her mind drifted away. _We're just too different. And besides, why would he want to be with me?_


	11. Chapter 11

Judy blinked in surprise, wondering if she had heard correctly. "Seven, sir?"

Bogo rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Yes, Hopps. Seven." He leaned back in his chair, as if the news he just shared with Judy was personally exhausting him. He let out a sigh. "Three in District 4, three in District 2, and one in District 3. Spread throughout last night between 20:00 hours and this morning at 06:00."

Judy folded her paws and rubbed them nervously. Her mind filled with images of predators on the verge of savageness attacking police officers in the dead of night, the officers barely able to hold their own and subdue them. "Were any officers injured?"

"No," Bogo was quick to respond. "No injuries, either to the predators or the officers." He leaned forward again in his chair and locked eyes with Judy. "Hopps, we need to get to the bottom of this. Mammals _will_ get hurt if this keeps up; we can't keep getting lucky forever."

Judy nodded. "Yes, chief." She could feel her ears droop, though, the more she thought about their situation. There were now a dozen predators in jail all over Zootopia, all of them sharing similar stories: They terrorized the town in some way, had no memory of doing so, and were now sitting in cells wearing shock collars.

The news was spreading quickly. This morning when she was watching the news while getting ready for work, the two anchors had mentioned that Mayor Lionheart and Assistant Mayor Rolfe were already considering a city-wide implementation of making shock collars mandatory for all predators. Poll numbers showed that as many as 72% of respondents agreed with the idea, and 86% believed it would make Zootopia safer overall.

 _Chief Bogo's right. We need to get to the bottom of this. Fast._ She cleared her throat softly. "How is the court order coming, sir?"

The faintest hint of a growl escaped Bogo's mouth. "By sheer coincidence, Judge Siemammals just began his migration yesterday. He'll be gone for the next two weeks. _Usually_ , he's the one I go to for court orders."

"Okay, so who do you go to now?"

The growl was much more audible this time. "Judge Furgood. He has been most…" He snorted. " _Uncooperative_ with me over this. Actually, he's _always_ been uncooperative with me over just about everything."

"So we're going to have to wait on Judge Siemammals to return?"

"Most likely, yes." Bogo, in desperate need of a distraction, picked up the nearest pile of paperwork on his desk and leaned back in his chair. "Let me take care of the court order, Hopps. You have your own job to take care of, don't you?"

Judy took a second to remember exactly what Bogo was referring to. In her excitement from the car chase the day before, on top of her date with Nick afterward, she had completely forgotten about her interrogations of Victor Bruin and Tony Stripes. While the latter did not give her any more information than she already knew, her talk with Bruin _did_ turn up some tidbits that she could look into further.

She politely hopped off her chair and nodded. "I'll get to it immediately, sir."

"See that you do." Bogo immersed himself in his paperwork. "Keep me updated, Hopps, and if you need anything, let me know."

Judy nodded once more, turned about face, and made her way to her cubicle. A quick elevator ride and walk across the lobby later, she was sitting down at her computer with notes strewn across the desk.

 _The first thing to do is talk with Bruin's employer._ Judy quickly searched her papers, found the appropriate one, and typed the information into the computer.

Claw & Teeth Waste Disposal. The first search result included a phone number identical to the one Bruin provided, as well as an address in Tundra Town. A quick Zoogle Maps search revealed that Bruin lived a few blocks away; he probably walked to and from work every day.

Judy rewrote down the phone number for later, then pulled up the police records database. Normally she wouldn't have access to this, but Bogo had given her unlimited resources, including the ability to run background checks. Legally, she was only allowed to do this on Bruin and Stripes—and the other predators who were in similar situations—but it was a start.

She quickly punched in the necessary key strokes, sat back, and waited, expecting the search to be done in no time at all. To her utter dismay, she saw a progress bar at the bottom of the screen. It didn't reach 1% until three minutes had passed.

Groaning in defeat, she slumped in her chair and stared at the screen, willing the progress bar to make itself run faster. It barely budged.

There wasn't much she could do on the computer while the program ran, so she decided the best thing to do while passing the time was to make the phone call. She picked up the phone on her desk, dialed the number, and waited.

After two rings, there was a soft click, and a voice answered. " _Claw & Teeth Waste, how can I help you?_"

Judy looked at the appropriate paper. "Hi there. I'm looking for Arnold Stinkavich. Can I speak with him, please?"

" _This is he,_ " came the reply.

Judy grabbed a fresh piece of paper, readied her carrot pen, and started. "Mr. Stinkavich, I'm Judy Hopps, Zootopia Police Department. If you have a moment, can I ask you a few questions?"

There was an uncomfortable pause—understandable, given the circumstances—before Stinkavich responded. " _Yes, ma'am, Officer Hopps. I have a few minutes. I'm not in trouble, am I?_ "

There was no way to truthfully answer. Judy honestly believed Bruin when he insisted he wasn't conscious during his escapade, but that presented two problems. First, it didn't matter whether she believed him or not; all that mattered was that he _had_ terrorized Zootopia. And second, if he was telling the truth—if _all_ the predators were telling the truth—then there was someone behind all of it.

That fact was becoming clearer and clearer to her. These events were happening too often now, and each predator taken into custody shared the exact same story. None of them had any recollection of doing anything wrong, so the only logical conclusion was that they were drugged or otherwise incapacitated. _Someone_ was behind all this, and it could be anybody.

 _Anybody. Including Stinkavich._ Judy decided the best answer would be, simply, no answer. She once again readied her pen. "Mr. Stinkavich, one of your employees, Victor Bruin, is currently in our custody. A few days ago, he went a little AWOL here in central Zootopia."

" _Yes, I've already been informed of this_ ," Stinkavich responded. " _I just want to go on record to say I've known Victor for years, and he's never done anything of the sort before. Are you sure you don't have him confused with another mammal?_ "

"I'm the officer who took him down, sir," Judy replied. "I wish I could say it's a simple mix-up, but it really was him."

There was another pause as Stinkavich collected his thoughts, before he said, " _I'm willing to answer any questions you have if it means helping Victor._ "

"Good. Let's get started, then."

For the next twenty minutes, Judy asked the usual questions—how long had they known each other, had Bruin acted suspicious at all the few days before the incident—before contentedly thanking Stinkavich for his time and hanging up the phone. She quickly organized her notes in a neat pile, set them aside, and took a look back at her computer screen.

"Eight percent?" she yelled. She groaned, loudly, and banged her head on her desk. "Oh, come on!"

"Careful, Carrots. Computers have feelings, too."

Judy felt her face flush red, and was suddenly happy her forehead was still connected with the desk so Nick couldn't see it behind her. She waited a moment for the embarrassment to disappear, before turning around to face him.

Nick leaned against the wall of her cubicle, right paw in his side pocket, left paw holding a styrofoam cup of steaming hot coffee. His aviator sunglasses were perched on his forehead, and his shock collar stuck out like a sore thumb on the side of his neck. A tiny bit of brown on the top of his lip gave away that he had been sipping his coffee quite a bit already today—though she could barely see it behind the snarky grin he flashed at her.

She narrowed her eyes. "How long have you been standing there?"

Nick shrugged, taking another sip of his coffee. "A minute or two." He chuckled. "You're so cute when you're embarrassed, you know that?"

Without missing a beat, Judy raised her carrot pen and pressed the button on the side. The pen spewed out a voice clip from Nick that she had recorded months ago. " _Two hundred bucks a day, Fluff. Three hundred sixty-five days a year, since I was twelve._ "

The resulting paleness on Nick's face caused her to flash the briefest of smiles in his direction. "You still have that?" he managed to squeak.

She narrowed her eyes and grinned. "You wanna call me cute again, Wilde?" she taunted.

Nick sighed, lowered his aviators onto his eyes—why he always did that indoors, she would never know—and finished the rest of his coffee in two big gulps. "I have my rights, rabbit. Ever heard of the Fifth? I can't be tried twice for the same offense." He tossed the empty cup in a nearby trash can and walked over to her. "And for the record, it's _still_ my word against yours."

Judy crossed her arms, ready to continue with the argument, but decided it would be better to leave it be. Instead, she switched to a new topic. "So, where you have been all morning?"

Judy's chair was a swivel desk chair, but her cubicle also had a small rabbit-sized chair for guests. Nick sat down in it—or rather, he tried to, but given how small it was, he ended up crouching in it more than sitting in it. "I have my own leads too," he responded, struggling to get comfortable. He tried shoving his tail through the small hole in the back, but it wouldn't fit. "You're here investigating Victor Bruin, right?" He tried sitting so that his right side was on the chair. "Well, I'm looking into Tony Stripes." He tried sitting on his left side, instead. "And it turns out…" He stood up, glared at the chair as if it was his archnemesis, and placed his paws on his hips. "You do know your partner is a _fox_ , right?"

Judy shrugged. "Do you see any other fox-sized chairs in this building?"

Nick sighed, defeated, and resorted to sitting on the floor instead. He tucked his knees underneath his chin and continued. "It turns out, Tony Stripes works for the Lettermammal Graphics company out of Savannah Central."

Judy raised an eyebrow. "How did you find that out?"

"Well, he told you he works in graphics design, so it was only a matter of asking around to find out who in Zootopia employs a tiger who's recently been in the news for potentially trying to kill the mayor and his new assistant." Nick raised his aviators back to his forehead. "I made a few calls, got some answers, and that's one of them."

"But how did you know who to call for graphic designers of all…" Judy's voice trailed away, before she slunk in her chair and crossed her arms with a huff. "Let me guess: It's because you know everybody?"

"Bingo." Nick smiled smugly. "It didn't take all that long, actually. Maybe three phone calls altogether. Anyway, here's the most important part. Lettermammal Graphics _does_ have a legal team for various reasons, should they ever need one. But they are _not_ represented by Tim Fields."

Judy blinked in surprise. Fields had stopped her interrogation the day before claiming to represent Stripes on a business level. "So, if Tony signed a non-disclosure agreement with someone, and it wasn't with Lettermammal Graphics…"

"Then he has another job somewhere else," Nick finished with a nod. "By the way, how's that court order coming with Chief Nuts-and-Bolts?"

"No luck so far, and it probably will be a bit of time before he can get it," Judy admitted. "And without Tony able to give us any more information, we're kind of stuck." The look on Nick's face, however, told her otherwise. "Nick, what aren't you telling me?"

Nick stood up and approached her computer. "Well, we don't know anything else about Tony Stripes," he admitted, moving the mouse. "But that doesn't mean we can't find out more about our good friend Timothy Fields, attorney at law." He waited a few seconds for the screen saver to go away, and when it finally did, his smile dropped. "Nine percent, huh?"

Judy stared at the screen, fighting the urge to moan. "I swear, it's actually getting _slower_ ," she murmured.

"Doesn't matter," Nick huffed in resignation, standing back up straight. "I've already sent an email to City Hall asking for the records."

"The records?" Judy repeated, almost in disbelief. "You didn't actually ask for a full list of clients Fields represents, did you?"

Nick chuckled, swatting the air. "No, no, don't be ridiculous." He turned around and began walking away. "I only asked for a full list from the past ten years."

Judy hopped off her chair and walked after him, happy to abandon her computer for the time being. "Can we even do that?" she asked.

Nick shrugged. "I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask," he admitted. "The worst they can do is tell me no—but since companies have public records, including legal counsel, I think we have a fair shot."

"And what if we're looking for an individual who privately hired Fields instead?" Judy inquired.

"I checked the security tape from the office when Fields made his little speech to get Tony to stop talking. He specifically mentioned it's a company that he represents."

By now the two of them were in the main lobby, passing Clawhauser and making their way out the door. "What if he was lying about that?" Judy asked, ignoring the nagging voice at the back of her mind asking where they were going.

"He's a _lawyer_ , Judy," Nick pointed out. "He wouldn't be stupid enough to lie about that. It would mean voiding his non-disclosure agreement and letting Tony off the hook."

Judy had to admit, she admired the extra steps Nick had taken in this case—especially since it wasn't even his to begin with. Chief Bogo had assigned _her_ to the case; what he did with Nick when they weren't partners out on the field was between the two of them, and simply wasn't her business. Even so, during the past day, Nick had reviewed the security tape, got in touch with enough databases to come up with the information he had just given her, _and_ contacted City Hall in pursuit of some leads. He had even gone as far as to review the…

Suddenly suspicious—and more than a little uncomfortable—Judy joined Nick's stride, walked side-by-side with him as they exited the lobby. "Why were you watching the security tape?"

"What can I say?" Nick thrust open the front doors, leading Judy outside the ZPD. "I just can't get enough of seeing my cute little cottontail, no matter the time of day."

Judy snorted. "Nick."

Truthfully this time, Nick answered, "I told you, I'm looking into Tony's case as much as possible. Since we didn't get much from Tony, I figured the best thing would be to get information from Fields." He led Judy around the side of the ZPD. "Unsurprisingly, Fields' office was, shall we say, less than cooperative. Lots of lawyer language, not much information I could use. So I resorted to a less direct approach."

"Watching the security tape," Judy finished.

"Yep. And it was very helpful. Now all we need is a list of all his clients, and we can keep going." Nick glanced up at the sun, winced in pain, shielded his eyes with his paw, and looked into the distance. "Let's see, City Hall's about a ten minute walk away. They told me it would be about half an hour before they could get their records pulled and a copy made for us. I think we'll arrive right on time."

Judy followed his gaze. City Hall, the skyscraper directly in front of them, was located not far away from the ZPD. A clear open field separated the two. Usually it would be filled with cubs and kits and the like after school hours, playing ball or tag. Now, though, it was far too early for that, and the field was deserted, allowing the two of them complete privacy during their short trip.

Judy smiled, once again admiring Nick's resourcefulness in this case. "Clever fox," she complimented.

Nick shrugged, shooting her one of his signature half-lidded grins. "I figured with you needing to give the database so much time to run a background check, you wouldn't mind tagging along." He started walking across the field.

"Not at all," Judy replied, matching his pace. Truthfully, she hated desk work. Being out and about in Zootopia, able to make the world a better place from somewhere other than the police department— _that_ was what she loved about being a cop.

 _Even if it means walking across the field to pick up a few papers. But hey, at least it's a nice day outside. Lots of sunshine, not much noise from traffic, and the grass feels_ perfect. Judy stayed silent for a few minutes, enjoying the peace and quiet as the two of them walked. She found herself entering a sort of trance, closing her eyes and perking her ears in an effort to fully enjoy herself.

Whereas other mammals slowed down when they got distracted by nature, Judy's bunny instincts kept her walking, perhaps even a tad faster than before. "We'll get this case wrapped up before we know it," she said excitedly. "We'll get Tony and Victor their freedom, we'll acquit every one of these predators, and we'll get those shock collars thrown back in the vaults where they belong."

Nick slowed his walk ever so slightly. She probably wouldn't have even noticed it, but she had known Nick long enough to sense it. Nick always walked at a set pace, radiating a sense of confidence around him. Any time his steps faltered, it meant that his mind was distracted by something—usually something important.

She opened her eyes again and turned to look at him. "What is it?" she asked.

The pace picked back up instantly. "Nothing, Carrots," Nick assured her, flashing another grin. "I'm with you. Let's solve this case. The sooner the better, right?"

Judy refused to let it go that quickly. "Nick, what's wrong?" she asked again.

Nick quietly dropped down his aviators again and shoved his paws in his pockets. "You ain't got nothing on me, Carrots. I've been doing this since I was born," he teased.

By now they were back on the pavement, approaching the steps to City Hall, and Judy knew there was absolutely no way he would tell her in such a public place. She sighed in defeat, accepting that it was something she would have to come back to later. "Okay, fine."

They walked up the stairs, and Nick politely opened the door for her. As she passed him, she shot him a sneer, trying to lock eyes with him behind his sunglasses. "Oh, and I _do_ have stuff on you, Wilde. And don't you forget it."

Nick let out a single chuckle. "Oh, yeah?"

Judy whipped out her carrot pen, held it up, and pressed the button on the side. With the volume cranked up to maximum, Nick's voice emerged from it and filled the lobby of City Hall. " _What can I say? I just can't get enough of seeing my cute little cottontail, no matter the time of day._ "

The lobby, filled with numerous mammals of all shapes and sizes, fell dead silent, eyes turned to Judy and Nick at the front door. Judy smiled in satisfaction as Nick's face flushed even redder than usual, his only cover being the sunglasses covering his wide-open eyes.

"Oh, yeah," Judy replied, lightly tapping her pen over Nick's nose in rhythm with her words. "And don't you forget it."


	12. Chapter 12

The reception area of City Hall was huge. The wall was a brilliant gold-tinted mirror. There were several sections for the various receptionists to sit at while greeting guests, each scaling down in size to accommodate mammals accordingly. All of the receptionists were busy helping out other mammals, so Nick and Judy walked up to the closest one. Lucky for them, as soon as they got in line, the elephant in front of them finished and left.

The first thing Nick noticed when they walked up to the front desk was the receptionist. It was a grizzly bear, and she was wearing a shock collar.

The bear was the only predator working there. She wore a professional-looking suit, complete with bow tie, and sat straight up in her seat, ready to serve them.

And maybe it was just the lighting, but for a split second, Nick thought he saw her collar flicker yellow, before going back to green.

"Hi, how can I help you?"

To any other mammal, the bear's words might have seemed cheery. Her smile might have seemed welcoming. Her readiness to help might have seemed enthusiastic.

But Nick had lived behind a mask for long enough to recognize another one as soon as he saw it. The grizzly bear's voice was bubbly, but not genuine. Her smile was wide, but not real. Her readiness to help was a veiled attempt to distract herself from this collar that she now wore.

"How long have you had that?"

He couldn't help himself. Before he knew it, the words escaped his mouth. He regretted it immediately; obviously, this grizzly bear did not want to discuss it, and it wasn't his business anyway. He could feel Judy shoot a judgmental glance in his direction to the side.

The bear tried to play it off. "Oh, this thing?" Her smile remained, and she scratched her neck underneath the collar. "We were given them just yesterday afternoon. New rule for government employees: All predators must wear shock collars."

If she continued talking, Nick didn't hear it. He lost his focus staring at the shock collar around her neck. It was bigger than the one he wore, definitely designed to fit a mammal of her size. I _t's already spreading. First officers, and now_ all _government employees._ The box that housed the collar's electronics stuck out the side of her neck, just as his own did on his neck this very minute. It was a sign to all other mammals that they—that predators—were inherently dangerous…

 _That we have to be muzzled, because we can't be trusted._

His attention snapped away from the collar thanks to a sudden elbow in his right ribs. Stunned, he whirled around to see Judy glaring at him. She cleared her throat, which was his cue that he was in for a lecture later, and then turned her attention to the grizzly, eager to change the subject. "We're from the ZPD, here to pick up the records on Timothy Fields."

The bear instantly nodded and stood up. "Yes, officers. They're in the back. I'll grab them right now." She turned around and walked through the employee door, closing it behind her.

As soon as the door closed, Judy turned back to Nick, paws on hips and hind foot patting the ground uncontrollably. "What's gotten into you?" she demanded. "How would _you_ like it if someone just walked right up to you and asked when you got _your_ collar?"

Nick had no response, which was a rarity for him. He knew Judy was right; he had known as soon as the words left his mouth. And he felt bad for it, too—but what could he say now?

The only thing he could come up with was, "I'm sorry, okay?"

Judy sighed. "Don't apologize to me." She motioned to the still-closed door on the other side of the counter. "Apologize to _her_."

"No, it's more than that." Judy raised an eyebrow. Nick took a deep breath and continued. "I'm sorry for what I said, of course, but I'm also sorry we're in this situation." He pointed to his own collar. "This is something I have to get used to—and it's something I don't _want_ to get used to." He took a second to make sure the door was still closed, then slouched down and began whispering to Judy instead. "First officers, now all other government employees. What's next?"

Judy rolled her eyes. "Stop being so over-dramatic," she replied, though in an equally soft whisper. "This will all blow over soon enough. The collars are just for appearance's sakes. Once we get to the bottom of this case, the predators will—"

Nick cut her off. "Do you really believe that, Carrots?" She didn't immediately answer, so he continued. "Because I don't. It seems to me this is all a little too convenient how fast everything's going. I mean, it's been less than, what, a week? Every predator who gets a paycheck from the taxpayers is wearing one of these, and the mayor is contemplating a bill to require all predators in Zootopia to wear one. That doesn't just happen out of thin air when a few predators go awol."

"A few predators _have_ gone awol, Nick," Judy replied, still whispering. "That's all we know. It's our job to look at the facts, and _only_ the facts. And until we can figure out why it's happening, we'll have to make some compromises."

"Compromi—" Nick blurted in a much louder voice. He caught himself, cleared his throat, and dropped his voice back down to a whisper. "Compromises? Carrots, these collars aren't a compromise. They're not a necessary evil. They're a brand—a _brand_ —on predators everywhere. As long as we're forced to wear them, we are unequal to prey. We are seen as threats—as unsafe creatures who can go savage at any time."

It was obvious to Nick that Judy was struggling to keep her voice calm when she replied. "Then we'll just have to get this case wrapped up _quickly_ , won't we?"

"Well, that's why we're here, isn't it?" Nick retorted.

"Yes, it is," Judy agreed.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, before Nick came to the realization that they were not alone. His eyes slowly turned back to the left, and settled upon the grizzly bear, standing behind the other side of the counter, thick manila folder in paw. She had an uneasy smile on her face, and it was obvious she had heard a lot of their conversation.

However, now that both Judy and Nick saw her, she held the folder up in the air. "Here are the records, officers!" she cheerfully said, trying to ignore the awkwardness in the air around them. "Which one of you is Officer Hopps?"

Even though he was frustrated with Judy at the moment, Nick couldn't help but feel a twinge of an involuntary smile return to his face as the bunny stared at the bear in confusion. "I am," she replied, "but Officer Wilde called for the records, didn't he?"

"Not my business, ma'am," the bear replied, handing Judy the folder. "All I know is it was made very clear that you were the one coming to pick these up."

Judy turned to face Nick, confused. Nick, in return, dropped his aviators back down in front of his eyes and gave her a half-smile. _Nick, you're one sly fox_ , he complimented himself. He turned back to the bear and waved. "Thanks for your help!" he called, before turning on his heel and beginning to walk away, Judy close behind.

She waited until they were all the way out of the building before asking, "Why did you put the records under my name?"

At first, Nick wanted to continue the argument they were having. It was clear to him that Judy didn't fully understand what he and the other predators were going through, and he wanted nothing more at this moment than to get her to understand it—to tell her, in as many words as it took, why the shock collars were a bad thing.

But he decided against it. "Your case, your investigation…" He lowered his sunglasses just a tiny bit, and glanced over them, looking her dead in the eye as he finished. "Your responsibility."

Judy narrowed her eyes. "Wow," she sighed sarcastically, "I'm so glad we're partners in this."

Nick readjusted his glasses and stuck his paws in his pockets. "We may be partners, Carrots, but you're the one in charge. That means the world depends on you. I'm happy taking a back seat and helping out once in a while."

 _Back seat…_

Judy opened the folder and began looking at the contents inside. "If I'm in charge, that means I can order you around, right?"

 _Back seat…_ Nick's pace began to slow.

"Don't think I'm above ordering you around, Wilde," Judy continued, trying to sift through the contents in an attempt to find useful information. "I've been on the force longer than you, which _could_ mean I'm your senior officer. And I don't mind saying, I have a few orders I could give you that I have been _dying_ for you to fulfill for quite some time."

 _Back seat…_ Nick stopped completely. "Carrots…"

"First of all, I order you to stop calling me Carrots." Judy moved a few pages from the front of the folder to the back. "Second, I order you to never, ever, _ever_ call me 'cute' again. Third…" She finally realized that she was several feet in front of Nick, and she turned around.

Nick stared at her, the wheels in his mind turning. The argument they had just had a few minutes ago completely faded away from his memory, instead replaced by a sense of eureka. "Carrots," he repeated.

Judy studied his face, having instantly forgotten what she was just talking about. "What is it?" she asked.

"The car chase. Where's the lion's car now?"

Judy thought for a minute. "I'd have to ask Bogo to be sure, but I think it's at the junk yard over in the Meadowlands District. Why?"

"Was it combed over for evidence before it was taken there?"

"Of course."

"And who did that?"

Judy thought again, but couldn't remember. "We'll have to look it up—"

"Do you at least know if it was a ZPD detective?"

"No," Judy replied immediately, "I think the lion's lawyer requested an independent study to avoid prejudice."

Nick snapped his fingers. "And the name of that lawyer?" Both mammals slowly turned back to the folder in Judy's paws. "I think we might have just found our first connection."

"Well," Judy hurriedly corrected, "only if Fields is the lion's lawyer."

Nick walked up to the folder, reached in, and pulled out a random paper. Without looking at it, he held it up in front of Judy's face. "And here, Officer Hopps, is your proof!"

Judy read it out loud monotonically. "Giraffic Press Publishing Association?"

Nick flipped the paper around and read it. It was, indeed, some financial records from the publishing house—from about thirteen years ago.

He stuffed the paper back in the folder. "Hey, you've got to admit, that would have been pretty amazing," he mumbled, before taking the folder away from Judy so he could grip it better. He took a second to finger through the pages, then pulled out a different sheet of paper, whiter than the others. This time he took a second to read it before showing it to Judy.

He smiled. "Bingo." He flipped it around. "Our good friend Timothy Fields does, in fact, represent one Pat Roark."

Judy took the page and read it for herself. "Since just a few months ago, from the looks of it," she added. "Okay, this is a start, but what about the study on the car after the crash?"

Nick pawed through the folder again, and eventually emerged with another paper. "Looks like a private individual was tasked with this," he responded. "A hyena named Ed Haas." Judy gave him a look. "Yeah, seriously." He handed her the paper to read over. "This is interesting, isn't it? Usually it's a whole company in charge of this kind of thing."

"Yeah," Judy agreed, skimming over the page. "Very odd." She looked back at Nick. "So, what do we do now? We could go look at the official evidence report on the car, we could go talk with Ed Haas, or we can check out the car ourselves."

Nick raised his glasses again, perching them on his forehead. He knew Judy would see through his mask if he put it on, so he opted not to, instead deciding to be frank with her. "I find it rather suspicious that Fields is representing only predators," he admitted. He angled the folder down so that Judy could look into it, and he slid his finger across the top of all the pages. Most of the photographs that flew by, like Nick said, were of predators that Fields had represented in his years as a lawyer. Not a single prey was listed.

Judy waited for Nick to finish before replying. "So, what does that mean?" she asked.

Nick tucked the folder under his arm. "I'm not sure," he responded, "and I doubt he'd be willing to tell us if we asked." He patted the folder. "Let's drop this off at the ZPD. What we do after that is up to you."

Judy nodded slowly. "Okay…" She turned around and began walking again, Nick following close behind. "Okay, let's grab the investigation report and take it to compare with the car. Then we'll go talk with Mr. Haas when we're done with that."

Nick saluted as well as he could while they ran. "Yes, ma'am." He adjusted his grip on the folder, using both paws to carry it now.

 _Sounds like we've got a lot to do. And here I was hoping we'd have a slow day. But like Judy said, the sooner we get this case resolved…_

His smile disappeared. He groaned softly, apprehensive of the thought that his bunny had, in fact, been right all along.

"You know what, Carrots? You're right. The sooner we get this case revolved, the faster these shock collars will be gone," he repeated out loud.

Judy nodded. "That's what I said," she agreed, without turning around to face him.

"Well, never let it be said I was a fox who couldn't admit defeat," Nick retorted, before quickly adding, "But don't think this means we're done talking about the shock collars. There's still plenty I want—"

"We're not," Judy interjected, much to his surprise. She turned around and faced him, still walking backwards at the same pace. "But it can wait for a while, can't it?" She pointed at the folder. "We have a case to work out first."

Nick couldn't help but smile. His bunny had just made it clear to him that she _knew_ she didn't fully understand his problems with the collars, but that she was willing to talk about it later.

That alone meant so much to him. It wasn't often that mammals even gave him the time of day. He couldn't remember a single individual in his entire adult life who had cared about his opinions, or about his wants or needs. And yet here was this cute little bunny, paws behind her back, amethyst eyes sparkling, face beaming like the sun, willing to be there for him as he went through this rough—

He suddenly felt very silly. _Stop it, Wilde. It's not that big of a deal. Carrots has always treated me this way. She's always cared about me, and she always will. It's in her nature to care about others. It's nothing special about me. I'm just her partner, and she's just my bunny._

 _My bunny…_

He quickly lowered his aviators back over his eyes, hoping it would help mask the blush he felt appearing over his face. "You know I love you, right, Carrots?" he asked, as he had asked her dozens of times before.

Judy gave him a small smile and stood her ears up straight. "Do I know that?" Without finishing, she turned back around and kept walking.

This time, though, Nick finished for her, even daring to mouth the words as he thought them. _Yes. Yes I do._


	13. Chapter 13

"Wilde!"

Chief Bogo's voice rang through the main lobby as Nick and Judy reentered the precinct. They both looked up to see the buffalo standing at the railing of the second floor, staring down at them; how long he had been there beforehand was anyone's guess. As soon as he had their attention, he pointed silently at his office.

It was not the first time he had called Nick to his office in such a manner. In fact, he had done it several times to several officers in the short time since Nick had started his job. Even Judy was not safe from the dreaded Bogo Call.

Nick smiled up at the chief and half-saluted with two fingers. "I'll be there in a second, Chief As—"

" _Now_ , Wilde!" Bogo barked, so loud that everyone else in sight stopped what they were doing and stared at Nick, wondering what he could have done.

The amount of eyes staring at him made him uneasy, so Nick decided it would be wise to obey Bogo's order. He turned to Judy and shrugged. "I'll meet up with you here afterward?"

Judy nodded and patted the folder under her arm. "I'll take care of this while you talk with the chief."

Nick forced a smile. "Sounds dandy," he mumbled.

They went their separate ways immediately, with Judy retreating to her cubicle and Nick making his way to the stairs. As he passed Clawhause, he could hear the cheetah struggling not to snicker.

"Is something funny, Officer Clawhauser?" Nick asked, not slowing his pace, nor shifting his glance to him in the least.

Clawhauser didn't answer. Instead he quickly picked up a donut and began munching on it. When he was sure Nick was out of range, he started chanting, "Nick is in trouble! Nick is in trouble!"

Nick could hear him perfectly, but pretended not to. He ran a hundred scenarios through his mind about what Bogo could be mad with him about this time. From them, he came up with a few good candidates—an arrest where he exercised a rather large display of aggravation, pulling over the same sloth seven times for speeding without issuing a ticket, or that one time he sent the chief a text meant for his florist.

Whatever it was, Bogo was about to go through the same old routine. He would sit Nick down for a short, loud lecture, shoot down any counter-argument Nick might have, and then send him on his way so he could go back to playing his Gazelle app on his phone.

In no time at all, Nick was at Bogo's door. The chief was standing outside it, waiting for him. He silently motioned for Nick to enter, which the fox did, before following him inside. Nick plopped down on the oversized chair opposite the chief's desk, and as soon as Bogo closed the door behind him, he quickly asserted, "I gave that pig a fair warning first."

Bogo blinked in confusion. "What?"

"What?'

Bogo snorted. "Whatever." He walked around his desk and sat down. "Officer Wilde, you have another appointment with Dr. Wood, tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock."

"Oh, so soon? It feels like it was only yesterday I saw him for the first time."

"That's because it was." For some reason, Bogo did not seem as angry as he seemed to be out in the lobby. In fact, he seemed quite calm—which raised all sorts of red flags in Nick's mind. "He called today and asked to see you again as soon as possible. I told him you were busy on a case, but he was most insistent."

Nick shrugged. "Well, he _did_ say he wanted to see me again at the end of our meeting." He raised an eyebrow. "I'm not paying for these out of my own pocket, am I, Chief?"

It was a half-joke, but Bogo didn't react. He didn't snort, he didn't narrow his eyes, he didn't so much as lean forward in his seat. "Wilde, he asked for _just_ you." Nick waited for him to continue. "Dr. Wood has seen every predator on the force. The purpose of the meetings was to psychologically evaluate you all on the ability to perform your duty as cops." He pointed at Nick. "He only asked to see one predator again. You."

The news did not immediately unsettle Nick. He was used to being "psychologically evaluated"—just another way of saying "judged"—by countless animals throughout his life. But the weight of Bogo's words slowly began to fall on him. "So… He cleared all the others, but not me?"

"He hasn't said anything about you yet either way," Bogo responded. "That's why he wants another session with you. Unlike the other predators on the force, you seemed to not give him enough of a clear answer as to whether or not you are a threat."

Nick coughed sharply. "A _threat_ , sir?" He put his paws in the air. "I'm _not_ a threat."

"I know that, Wilde," Bogo quickly responded. "But Dr. Wood needs to say so before Assistant Mayor Rolfe is satisfied." He picked up a file that had up to that point been hiding underneath a pile of other assorted papers on the corner of his desk. "This is Dr. Wood's notes of your appointment yesterday."

The folder was beaver-sized, but even so, it was filled with so many papers that it seemed to struggle to stay closed. Nick found himself gaping at the size of the thing; how Dr. Wood had taken so many notes from the time they spent together was beyond him. For a minute, he even worried about what the notes were about. He hoped that there was nothing in there on his feelings about Judy, and prayed that if there was, Bogo hadn't read them.

"He asked me to read through them, or at least his notes on potential issues you might have worth considering," Bogo continued, "but frankly, none of this is my business." He unceremoniously dumped the folder in the wastebasket beside his desk. "I would rather resign than fire you, Nick. You're not a threat to society. _No_ animal is just because they're a predator."

The unexpected actions and words from the buffalo touched Nick in a way he never felt before. Nick was used to being ridiculed and mocked and even _threatened_ simply because he was a predator. Even after joining the ZPD, he still faced massive prejudice based on him being a fox. While he had the admiration of many others now, and the trust from all the other officers—this was probably the first genuine, heartfelt display of respect he had ever gotten in his life.

At a loss for words, all he could say was, "Thank you, sir."

Bogo nodded, before standing up. "Get to the bottom of this, Nick. For all the predators in Zootopia."

Nick stood as well and saluted. "You can count on me and Judy, sir."

Bogo raised an eyebrow, the side of his mouth turning into a small grin. "'Judy', eh?"

Nick cleared his throat. "Carrots, sir. That's what I said. 'Carrots'."

"You said 'Judy'."

"I did not."

Bogo walked over to the door and placed a hoof on the handle. "I'm going to open this door, and I'm going to yell at you. And you are going to play along—or I will give the entire precinct permission to laugh at you. Do you understand?"

Nick had completely forgotten that the chief had come in here angry in the first place. Now, suddenly, it made sense; Bogo had simply pretended to be angry in order to have a private conversation with him without raising any suspicions.

"Yes, sir," Nick responded. Before Bogo could open the door, he quickly added, "Tomorrow morning at 10?"

Bogo silently nodded, then opened the door. As soon as light from the outside crept into the room, he was already yelling. "If I hear one more complaint about your aggressive behavior, Wilde, I'll muzzle you myself! Do I make myself clear?"

Nick assumed his patented half-lidded grin, stuck his paws in his pockets, and exited the office. "Eh, she was a pig anyway," he responded.

"Hey!"

Nick froze. Officer Swinton, a pig who usually worked as a prison warden, was just walking past as he had uttered it. She now stared at him, tapping her foot, hooves on her hips.

Nick dropped the smile. "Oh, like you haven't heard it before, Swinton," he said defensively, before brushing past her and making his way back to the stairs.

Within a few seconds, he was back in the lobby, walking up to the front desk. His snout barely reached the desk, and he had to fight the urge to glare at Clawhauser, who was still snickering in his chair.

"So," the cheetah asked, "what did you do this time, Nick?"

Nick rolled his eyes. "Oh, you know, I was busy minding my own business, walking home with two armfuls of watermelons, as one does—"

"You arrested a pig, huh?"

"Yep. Apparently I was a little too rough when I did." He stood tall, paws behind his back, and smiled. "It won't happen again. I promised."

Clawhauser narrowed his eyes at the fox, not believing him in the least. "Really? You _promised_?"

Nick nodded. "I sure did." His grin widened, however, as he lifted one of his paws up from behind his back. Two of his fingers were crossed.

Clawhauser's snickering returned. "Oh, Chief Bogo is going to be _so_ mad when he finds out!" he chuckled.

Nick knew he was in no trouble, of course, and played along. He dropped his smile and clutched his heart in mock plea. "Oh, my dear Benjamin, I surely hope _you_ won't tell the dear chief about my little white lie, will you?"

"Oh, absolutely not, Nicky." Clawhauser raised his tail and grabbed it. "I _promise_ ," he added with a wink.

Nick stared at him in confusion. "No, that's…" He glanced around, hoping nobody was watching. "Ben, that's not something you can do in public."

"It's not?" Clawhauser looked at his tail, still grasped by his hand. "Then what does this—"

"Ben!" Nick snapped.

The cheetah quickly let go of his tail. "Sorry!" he apologized. He sat straight up in his chair and tried again. "I mean, I _promise_ , Nicky," he repeated, with another wink. This time, he curled his paw into a fist, like he was ready to punch Nick in the face.

Nick continued staring at him in disbelief. "Ben," he sighed. He raised his paw and crossed two fingers. "Are you even _seeing_ what I'm doing here?"

"Oh. So I'm supposed to do this?" Clawhauser uncurled his fist and spread his fingers out, pressing a few close to each other and spacing them out again.

"No, that's the Vulture Sal—" Nick put a paw on his forehead. "Ben, Ben, Ben, work with me." He raised his paw again. "It's. So. Simple." He crossed his fingers, then pointed at it with his free paw in a ta-da gesture. "See?"

Clawhauser stared at Nick's paw for several seconds, then at his own. He was silent for a moment, then grabbed his own paw and began manipulating it with his free one. It was blocked from Nick's view while he worked, but when he was finally done, he removed his free paw and smiled at Nick, proud of his accomplishment.

It was a thumbs-up.

Nick had a hard time believing that he was having this much difficulty trying to teach a single paw gesture to the cheetah. "Ben, I swear to God. I have _never_ had this problem in my life. I feel like I'm dealing with—"

"Nick!" Judy's voice cut them both off.

"Carrots!" Nick quickly finished, whirling around and forcing a grin. Judy was walking up to them, a fresh case file tucked under her arm and a grin on her face.

"Carrots are a dollar a pound at HZB," Clawhauser whispered in his ear.

"Not now, Ben," Nick snapped back in an equally quiet whisper, still maintaining his smile in Judy's direction.

A few seconds later, Judy was at the desk. "I've got the investigation report right here. The junk yard is thirty minutes away according to the Zoogle Maps."

Without her having to ask, Clawhauser had already fished the keys to one of the cruisers from under the desk. He dangled them in front of Nick. "Here you go. Have fun, you two!"

Nick smiled and reached out to grab the keys. Before he could, however, a gray blur shot in front of his paw, snatched the keys, and began walking to the front door. "Not so fast, Slick. You're shotgun." As she exited, she called behind her, "Again!"

Clawhauser and Nick watched her leave, both speechless. Finally, Clawhauser was able to ask, "I take it she heard about your driver's test?"

Nick sighed in resignation. "Yep." He lowered his aviators in front of his eyes and started following her. "Keep working on that thing, buddy," he called over his shoulder. "Look up some ZooTube videos if you have to."

As he left, he could hear Clawhauser whipping out his phone and doing just that.


End file.
